Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{Police in Uganda have prevented women from marching through the streets of the capital, Kampala, in protest at new laws banning the wearing of miniskirts.}}

Instead about 200 women, some dressed in short skirts, gathered outside the national theatre to voice their anger.

There have been several incidents over the past week of women in short skirts being publicly harassed and assaulted.

This follows the signing by the president of the anti-pornography bill, which bans “indecent” dressing.

Proposing the legislation last year, Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo said that women who wore “anything above the knee” should be arrested.

Uganda is a socially conservative country – and this week President Yoweri Museveni enacted a bill toughening penalties for gay people in the country.

Dubbed “the miniskirt law” by Uganda’s media, the anti-pornography legislation was raised in parliament on Tuesday after the cases of harassment – some women have been publicly undressed for wearing miniskirts.

The prime minister and attorney general told MPs that the cabinet would recall the law to review it.

The police have issued a statement condemning those who engaged in “mob… undressing”.

{{The Norwegian government has withdrawn Norwegian Kroner 50m in budget support to Uganda over the Anti-Homosexuality law President Museveni assented to on Monday.}}

“The new law violates fundamental human rights and the Ugandan Constitution,” the country’s Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Børge Brende, said.

“We will hold back around Norwegian Kroner 50m of our aid to Uganda…we will increase our support to human rights and democracy defenders,” reads a statement by Kyrre Holm, the First Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy.

Both The Netherlands and Denmark were reported to be considering slashing their aid package to Uganda, having frozen development assistance in 2012 over pilfering of $13m by bureaucrats in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The developments follow announcement by the US and Sweden that they are reviewing their assistance to Uganda too. “…we are beginning an internal review of our relationship with the government of Uganda to ensure that all dimensions of our engagement, including assistance programmes, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and reflect our values,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement on Monday.

The White House said Mr Museveni, by signing into law a legislation criminalising homosexuality, had taken Uganda a “step backward”. Mr Kerry added: “…this law is more than an affront and a danger to the gay community in Uganda; it reflects poorly on the country’s commitment to protecting the human rights of its people and will undermine public health, including efforts to fight HIV/Aids.”

Separately, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton described as “draconian” the legislation criminalising homosexuality, providing up to life sentence for the worst crimes in gay relationships.

President Museveni said individuals who promote homosexuality, those recruited on financial inducement, and those who public exhibit homosexual affection should be punished harshly by the law.

The President castigated Western government for attempting a “social imperialism” by imposing their values on Africans forcibly under the guise of promoting human rights, warning that homosexuality has no place in Uganda.

NV

{{A group of activists have urged the Congolese authorities to ensure the arrest of the Sudanese President, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.}}

President Omer Al-Bashir is reportedly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to attend the 17th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit taking place in the capital, Kinshasa.

“Congo as an ICC member has an obligation to arrest and transfer President Al-Bashir to The Hague, where he is wanted for crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Georges Kapiamba, president of the Kinshasa-based Congolese Association for Access to Justice.

Under the ICC’s Rome Statute, however, all member countries, including Congo, have an obligation to cooperate with Bashir’s arrest; yet similar calls for the apprehension of the Sudanese leader have in past years been unsuccessful.

Although the African Union has called on its member not to cooperate with the ICC, countries like Malawi, South Africa, Kenya and Zambia have avoided hosting the Sudanese leader.

Descartes Mpongo, the executive secretary of Christian Activists Actions for Human Rights in Shabunda of the DRC, said, “Having long worked closely with the ICC, Congo should demonstrate that it stands on the side of Darfuri victims, and arrest Al-Bashir.”

Elise Keppler, an associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch described the Sudanese leader as “a fugitive from justice who belongs in one place only: The Hague.”

“Since Congo didn’t prevent al-Bashir’s visit, they should take the next step and arrest him,” added Klepper.

Sources say that European Union (EU) and US officials will boycott their attendance of the COMESA summit in protest.

Currently chaired by Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, the COMESA meeting will reportedly deliberate the status of the implementation of the COMESA free trade area, progress on the Implementation of the COMESA Customs Union and COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Agenda.

Also expected to dominate discussions at the two-day event are issues like peace and security, infrastructure programmes, agriculture and the environment.

{sudantribune}

{{Sudanese government has agreed to accept a draft framework agreement put forward by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), announced Khartoum’s chief negotiator after a meeting between president Omer Al-Bashir and chief mediator Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday.}}

On 18 February Mbeki announced a break in the stalled peace talks between the government and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement –North (SPLM-N) and proposed a draft framework agreement aiming to cease hostilities and deliver humanitarian assistance to civilians in the rebel areas.

The draft agreement further proposes to limit political talks to the conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Following the meeting in which he took part, the Sudanese presidential assistant and head of government negotiating delegation Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters that president Bashir accepted the proposed agreement “without reserve”.

Al-Bashir further, according to Ghandour, reiterated the commitment of his government to deliver humanitarian aid to the affected populations in the Two Area, adding they do not want this issue be used as political tool to put pressure on Khartoum.

The president urged the mediator to “speed up the dialogue and not to waste time in secondary issues,” Ghandour said. He stressed that a comprehensive peace should be achieved through a comprehensive agreement not bilateral deals.

The two warring parties failed to achieve any progress in their recent round of direct talks from 13 to 18 February because the government says it can only negotiate an agreement over the two state, after what they can be part of a national process but the SPLM-N persists on its demand for a comprehensive process .

Regarding the humanitarian assistance, the two parties diverge on who can supervise the distribution of food in the rebel areas, the SPLM-N refuses any role for the government aid agency. The rebel group also propose to extend the humanitarian deal to include rebel areas in Darfur region.

Ghanour said the government negotiating delegation will hand over a formal letter to the mediation stating its unconditional acceptance of the draft framework agreement.

He added that AUHIP chief discussed relations between Sudan and South Sudan, and the presidential initiative to achieve a holistic peace in the country including the opposition parties.

Mbeki’s panel is tasked with a process to achieve democratic reforms in Sudan.

The South African mediator on Wednesday met also with the leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq Al-Mahdi to discuss a proposal prepared by the latter suggesting to not include discussions on constitutional reforms in the bilateral talks between the government and SPLM-N.

Al-Mandi proposes to limit talks between the warring parties to issues of security arrangements and humanitarian access .

Speaking to the press following the meeting, the leader of Sudan’s largest opposition party called to discuss issues related to democratic transition in a national council for peace, adding he sent his proposal to Ghandour and SPLM-N top negotiator Yasir Arman alike.

“If the proposal is accepted by the SPLM-N, the government should recognise it (as partner in the national dialogue process proposed by president Bashir) and expand dialogue to issue of peace and democratisation,” Mahdi further said, underlining it is a necessary step before to include any agreements reached via this national platform in the Constitution.

Mbeki also met with the Islamist leader Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani who split last year from the ruling National Congress Party .

Attabani said opposed to bilateral accords.

“Efforts to achieve national reconciliation should be collective and avoid bilateral agreements. The optimal arrangement is to hold a roundtable dialogue and to observe specific deadlines, so as not to miss the issue of reform,” he said.

He further demanded the government to take a number of measures in order to create conducive environment for the press and freedom of expression before next year general elections.

Mbeki is scheduled to meet with the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan Al-Turbai . He also will fly to Kampala to meet the rebel groups members of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front.

{sudantribune}

Uganda’s President Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has threatened to sever ties with the United states and work with Russia.

Russia and United States have been cold war enemies for a long time.

Museveni’s comments came after the signing into law of the anti hormosexuality Bill on Monday , a move that has ignited international debates over the controversially harsh anti Gay bill.

Uganda’s leader since 1986 told U.S. President Barack Obama to stop interfering in the affairs of Uganda, adding that he will work with the Russian government “because they don’t meddle in the internal affairs of other countries”.

The Ugandan president who recently told ruling party members of parliament that he is a war general, urged President Obama to “go back to your home”.Museveni said Uganda was his home and therefore no one should tell him what to do.

President Obama had earlier warned Museveni that if he signed the anti gay bill, he risked putting US relations with Kampala at risk.

The anti-gay bill cruised through parliament in December after its architects agreed to drop a death penalty clause.

It holds that repeat homosexuals should be jailed for life. It also outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and legally obliges people to denounce gays to the police.

news24

{{To the Tanzanian government, the just-released National Form Four exam results were impressive, but to some stakeholders, they are a product of fabrication and alteration of grades to depict the politically desirable Big Results Now (BRN) outcome — at the expense of the country’s education system.}}

The Citizen reports that government came under heavy criticism last year following the massive failure in 2012 national Form Four exams, but according to stakeholders, this time around, it juggled with grades to avoid another round of embarrassment’.

Yesterday, some education experts and activists said they were preparing an independent analysis that would show that the just-released Form Four exams results are worse than those of 2012.

The experts’ criticism comes after the government released what some analysts termed an ‘artificial’ improvement in the exams performance by simply altering the grading system to allow for more passes.

Speaking to The Citizen at separate occasions yesterday, they expressed disappointment over what they termed government’s lack of political will to improve the education sector.

They hope their activism will force the government into action to tackle the obvious challenges facing the sector, such as shortage of teachers.

HakiElimu, a non-governmental organisation with a bent towards education improvement is today set to make public its analysis to expose the “artificial” improvement in the results.

“This is not something to celebrate, because if you look into these results as per the previous grading system, many of these pupils have not passed; we need work hard to make sure there is a real improvement in the sector,” the executive director, Ms Elizabeth Misokia said.

The 2013 year’s Form Four results released last weekend indicated that a total of 235,227 students passed. This is equivalent to 58.25 per cent of the candidates who sat for their exams in November last year, compared to 185,940 (43.08 per cent) in 2012.

But Ms Misokia argues that it is wrong to say there’s an improvement in the pass rate by comparing the 2013 and 2012 exams because the two have been graded using completely different systems.

“The government is fooling the public by claiming that results have improved, if we take the division one up to three in the last year’s results, they are 74,324 which makes 21.0 per cent, while in the previous year they were 35,349 which is equivalent to 9.55 per cent,” noted Ms Misokia.

She added that it seems like more pupils passed this year because of adjustment in the grading system, which was made by the government.

By lowering the pass grade, she said, more students who would have scored division zero seemed to have passed their examinations.

She also highlighted that if you combine the newly E and F grades the truth is that there would have been massive failures compared to the 2012 results that rocked the nation, prompting the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda to form a probe committee.

Previously there was no E grade for ordinary level. The grades were A, B, C, D and F. During the 2013 exams, Grade E was introduced after an attempt to replace division zero with division five was thwarted by members of Parliament.

Following the alteration of the grading system, the newly introduced grade E is now a pass. But if the previous grades would be been fully followed, E grade simply means zero, she further told The Citizen.

Another education expert from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Dr Kitila Mkumbo told The Citizen he was in his final process to analyse the just released national form four exams results to establish whether the passing rate had improved or not.

“If we could put these results into the previous year’s grading, I can say that no achievements which were attained,” noted Dr Mkumbo while adding that the government should take stern measures in making sure that education sector is improves.

In 2013 results there was a slight reduction of failures with 151,187candidates or 42.91 per cent, scoring division zero, from nearly 60 per cent the previous year, the changes made by the government last year lowered the grades in all areas.

The grading system includes an A which previously ranged from 81-100 but can now be obtained if a student scores 75-100, the government also introduced a B+ which ranges from 64-74, B:50-59, and C:40-49.

The Tanzania Association of Managers & Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) executive secretary, Mr Benjamin Nkonya, said that this is just a fabrication.

“It’s just what we call mileage only, because we are not going anywhere in this sector,” said he while adding that the government needs to get serious in handling the education sector.

Apart from lowering the grades, Mr Nkonya highlighted the existing problem facing government schools for many years, “government schools are nowhere to be seen in the top ten list,” said Mr Nkonya.

The Tanzania Teacher’s Union (TTU) General Secretary Dr Ezekia Oluoch said that the reality would only be seen if the government will put the results into the previous grading system.

“This will only reveal the current situation, because we can be celebrating for nothing, we have 3350 ward schools which have a major teachers deficit, the government has delayed to employ new teachers, something which brings more challenges to pupils,” said Dr Oluoch.

He also said that the government should invest more in education sector because there is no way you can get a good return if you had less invested, “less investment in education sector produces less return,” he noted.

In 2012, a total of 210,846 scored division zero which was 56.92 per cent of all pupils sat for the Form Four examinations; a total number of pupils who sat for their examinations were 458,139.

{The Citizen}

{{Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs has disclosed that Sudanese financial assets amounting to $48.2 million are frozen in the United States under decade-long sanctions imposed by Washington on Khartoum.}}

The ambassador at the foreign ministry, Mohamed Abdalla, said in a hearing before the parliament on the US sanctions and their impact on Sudanese citizens on Monday that the $48.2 million represents the total amount of frozen money until 2007 while the total number of rejected financial transaction during the period from 2000 to 2008 reached 5,777 transactions at the value of $745.3 million.

He further said that Washington imposed penalties and intimidated states, banks, and financial institutions dealing with Sudan.

Several MP’s warned the government against confronting the international community, urging it to review its foreign policy and avoid hasty decisions.

They also called for changing the current approach for dialogue with US through selecting acceptable figure to lead the negotiations with Washington.

MP Abdalla Ali Masar called for using popular means of pressure such as holding banners in front of the White House, demanding that the government seek to achieve national interests.

MP Abdel-Ra’uf Babiker for his part urged the government to change its political rhetoric, criticizing its support for Iran and Palestine.

“Our sons should have the priority over the children of Gaza strip. The people in Kordofan are in need for a sip of water”, Babiker said.

He further underscored the need to stop gum Arabic exports for two years in order to make the whole world “bow” and stressed that the fifth column within the country is spreading rumors that stopping gum Arabic exports would negatively impact the economy, saying those claims are incorrect.

Babiker also pointed that 3 companies owned by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) continue to export gum Arabic in violation of a presidential decree.

Earlier this month, the secretary general of Gum Arabic Council (GAC), Abdel-Magid Abdel-Gadir, disclosed that Sudan exported 42 tonnes of gum Arabic to the United States in 2013 yielding $103 million.

Sudan has been on the US blacklist of states sponsoring terrorism since 1993 on allegations of harboring Islamist militants despite reports of Sudan being a cooperative intelligence partner of Washington in the “war on terror”.

Sudan is also subject to comprehensive economic sanctions since 1997 over terrorism charges as well as human right abuses. Further sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003 outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region.

In 2010 however, the US announced it was easing sanctions on agriculture equipment and services which allowed half a dozen companies to obtain export licenses.

Last August, Sudan’s former foreign ministry undersecretary, Rahmatallah Mohamed Osman, said that US economic sanctions on Sudan contain some loopholes which could be exploited to boost the economy.

{sudantribune}

{{The South Sudan government on Monday rejected any proposal to form an interim government that excludes president Salva Kiir or his former deputy, Riek Machar amid accusations that both were responsible for the violence that plunged the country into chaos.}}

The government delegation participating in the second round of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, officially opened on 11 February, have not responded to the proposed agenda put forward by the East African mediating team.

{{PROPOSAL EXCLUDES LEADERS}}

The contents of the proposed agenda remains unclear as the two sides have not shared it with the media, although sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations claimed that mediators are prioritising the interests of the people of South Sudan and not the rival warring factions.

“I have not seen the proposal but I am told the mediators have presented a proposal similar to the proposal used in [the] Central Africa conflict. It proposes the formation of the interim government which does not include president Salva Kiir and the former vice-president, Riek Machar”, a senior government official close to president Kiir told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

“This proposal is argued to be based on the expressed views of the majority of the people of South Sudan who have shared with mediators in various forums and engagements, either as groups or individuals, that the only way to bring the country back is to form an interim government without participation of the two principals”, added the official.

Any such proposal that involved president Kiir stepping down would not be accepted by the leadership of South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) or the people of the world’s youngest nation, according to the source.

Ateny Wek Ateny, South Sudan’s presidential spokesperson, said the Juba government would like the talks to be confined between it and the SPLM-In-Opposition, adding that it opposed the participation of civil society representatives and former political prisoners invited to attend the second round of talks.

Forces loyal to both leaders are accused of committing human rights abuses during the conflict that began in the capital, Juba, on 15 December, with Nuer civilians allegedly targeted by members of the security services following the outbreak of violence.

When large parts of the military mutinied in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states, forces allied to Machar targeted civilians of Dinka ethnicity. An estimated 10,000 people have died and over 700,000 people have been internally displaced, with almost 150,000 fleeing to neighbouring countries.

President Kiir was elected in 2010, with Machar as his deputy and running mate, achieving over 93% of the vote, but the relationship between the two has deteriorated since South Sudan became independent in 2011 as part of a peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

{{SPLM SPLIT}}

In July last year, shortly after Machar made public his intention to challenge Kiir for the chairmanship of the SPLM, he was removed. Kiir also sacked his entire cabinet and although some were reappointed, those who were not given new posts went on to form a group of senior SPLM figures highly critical of the president.

In early December, the group held a press conference in Juba describing Kiir as “increasingly dictatorial” and calling for political reform. When fighting broke out in Juba in mid-December most of this group was arrested and accused – along with Machar – of allegedly conspiring to oust Kiir in a coup.

All the accused deny the charges, but Machar has since assume leadership of segments of the army who have defected and armed civilians angered at the targeting of Nuer in the capital during the first days of the conflict.

Machar was welcomed back into the SPLM fold in 2003 following a split that began in 1991, the memories of which have been rekindled by the current conflict. Some analysts believe that reconciliation is much less likely this time and that many in the rebel-group-turned-ruling party will not countenance Machar becoming president.

The mediator’s proposal for Kirr and Machar to step aside appears to be an attempt to satisfy both those who do not want Machar’s armed rebellion to be rewarded with his appointment to a senior government position and those who feel that Kiir’s overall leadership and his response to crisis means that he should step down.

However, the government source claims the proposal “will not work” and “will not be accepted because even if the government accepts it, the people of South Sudan would not accept it because they elected President Salva Kiir in 2010.”

If the people of South Sudan want a change of president “they will demonstrate that at the end of his term”, which ends in 2015, he said.

Attempts by Machar and others to contest for the chairmanship of the SPLM, which would see the winner would become the overwhelming favourite to contest for the leadership, was one of the main causes of the tension that preceded the split in the army, triggering the current crisis.

{{KIIR TO REMAIN}}

Gordon Buay, the spokesperson of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) – a former rebel group now allied to the government – said on Sunday that Kiir would not step down before completing his term.

“Let me advise everyone that Salva Kiir was elected in 2010. He can only be removed via the same democratic process. He will not step down because Riek Machar attempted a coup. That will not happen”, Buay said.

South Sudan’s foreign affairs minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, also rejected the idea that Kiir should step down on the same ground that he was elected.

“Why would he step down when you know that he was elected by the people of South Sudan with 93% votes? There is no reason to qualify such suggestions. If there are people who want to contest the same position they can do that in the 2015 [elections]. They will not be denied their right because we are a democratic country”, Marial told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

Many analysts have expressed fears that Machar’s presidential ambitions and the desire by president Kiir to remain in power beyond 2015 is becoming a stumbling block for success in the peace talks.

{{PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION}}

Anthony Sebit, a Juba-based local political analyst, expressed doubts about the possibility of the two sides agreeing on a deal that would not secure participation of the leaders of the two rival groups.

“You have Riek Machar with long ambition and goal to become a president of South Sudan and of course we are not seeing any sign indicating that president Kiir would leave power”, Sebit told Sudan Tribune from Nairobi, Kenya.

“Even though he is not interested and may want to retire from politics now, the people around him will not accept that and they may want to use the system so that he could remain in power so that they could continue to enjoy the privileges”, Sebit added.

According to the analyst, these are very difficult ambitions to be reconciled without the intervention of the South Sudanese people with help from their friends in the region and the international community.

“President Kiir has widely been criticised for showing lack of strong leadership, specifically on corruption, human rights, good governance and recently for dictatorial tendencies given the way he has been running the country through presidential orders”, he said.

“Little is discussed and handled by relevant institutions, including the appointment of senior civil servants, as well as the approvals of appointments in junior ministers in the states”, the political analyst added.

{{MACHAR NOT RIGHT SUCCESSOR}}

Some independent observers have observed that Machar would not be the right successor to Kiir should the international community persuade the latter to step aside, citing what occurred in the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR).

“People are looking for change but there are people who do not see Riek Machar as the right replacement at the moment. The feeling with different people now is that even [if] president Salva Kiir accepts to step down, Riek Machar does not appear to be the right person. His involvement in the present rebellion reminds most about his past. Indeed there are people who now appear reserved to talk about his participation in power sharing, considering the behaviours of his followers in this crisis”, Abraham Dut, a native of Bailiet county, Upper Nile state said in an interview with Sudan Tribune on Monday.

Dut said most places in his county were reduced to ashes by armed elements allegedly allied to Machar and that people on the ground had not wanted to participate in the revolt.

“What happened in Bailiet is something that nobody had expected considering we are from the same state and the same region. Our people became the victim of political differences [that] they do not have any idea [about]. They also came to know when the anger was transferred to them through attacks, targeted killings and the burning of their settlements”, Dut explained.

But Yien Mathew, a former SPLM spokesperson, said an interim government without president Kiir would bring peace.

“There will be an interim government which will change everything befalling in our country to reconcile communities, rebuild trust, protect civilians, provide badly needed services to our people, and above all, restore national sovereignty”, said Yien.

“It is time South Sudanese come out and say loud and clear that enough is enough to the presidency of Salva Kiir as the only means to give peace a chance”, he added.

(ST)

{{The United States special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth has said his country encouraged the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) negotiators to reach an agreement during the recent round of talks in Addis Ababa.}}

Booth noted that he held separate meetings with both delegations to urge them to arrive at a peace deal.

According to Saturday’s issue of the pro-government al-Rayaam daily newspaper, Booth warned that war is the only alternative for negotiations, which he said is harmful for all parties.

He stressed that he sensed strong political will from both sides to achieve peace and pointed to the need for holding negotiations on humanitarian, political and security issues simultaneously, saying this would save time and shorten duration of suffering for the people in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The US official further expressed satisfaction with the resumption of negotiations within 10 days but refrained from commenting on the proposal which the chair of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki, has handed over to the warring parties.

“I do not want to prejudge positions of the concerned parties”, he said

Last Tuesday, Mbeki announced that talks between Sudan’s government and SPLM-N which sought to end the two-and-half-year conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile have been suspended for ten days.

He said the ten-day hiatus is meant to give delegates time to consult on proposals put forth by the AUHIP with their respective leaders.

“We have made these proposals to the parties with the suggestion that we should adjourn this present session of negotiations to give a possibility to the parties to consult with their principles about these proposals”, he said.

The AUHIP proposal calls for unconditional cessation of hostilities that must be activated within 7 days from the date of signing the peace deal.

It also demands both parties not to move or boost troops or occupy new positions besides stopping all violent acts against civilians, aid workers and their properties.

The proposal further asks conflicting parties to control armed militias as well as controlling their troops in areas under their control, demanding resolving conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile through negotiations on the basis of the frame work agreement signed on June 28, 2011.

The June agreement provides for an inclusive constitutional process to address the historical question, how Sudan is going to be governed, with the participation of all stakeholders, political parties and civil society organizations in a national constitutional conference.

The AUHIP proposal also calls upon both parties to work with all Sudanese stakeholders towards engaging in a comprehensive national dialogue to achieve the democratic transformation and the constitutional reform, proposing formation of joint political, security, and humanitarian committees to continue dialogue among all Sudanese forces.

It underscored the right of the SPLM-N to be registered and carry out its activities as a political party according to the law.

The Blue Nile and South Kordofan’s conflict erupted months apart from each other 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.

{sudantribune}