Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The South Sudanese government has strongly dismissed reports alleging that is was harbouring Sudanese rebels in the country to help it fight dissent forces loyal to its former vice-president, Riek Machar.}}

“There is nothing like that. We do not have foreign forces hostile to their governments inside the territory of the republic of South Sudan. If there is something which the Sudanese press wants to cover with these unfounded allegations, then they should say it,” South Sudan presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny told media.

The presidential spokesperson was reacting to an article published on Sudan Vision, a government newspaper, Saturday entitled “Juba, Sudanese Rebel Movements, What Then”. The article said Sudanese rebel groups now want a recompense after taking part in the fight against Machar’s forces.

“The important question what is the future of the Sudanese rebel groups which fought along the South Sudanese government? The Sudanese rebel movements are waiting for political reward from the South Sudanese government for engagement in the fighting”, said the report.

“Actually we do not want to point fingers though we believe the rebels of Riek Machar are getting foreign support,” he added, stressing the significance of the September 2012 Cooperation Agreement between Sudan and South Sudan.

“We cannot do that,” the spokesperson said, denying that his government provides any support to the Sudanese rebel groups. He stressed that the two countries have agreed to work together for peace and stability for the mutual benefits and other interests to their citizens and the region.

“If we want foreign support from foreign forces as an independent state, and we think Sudan is the right country, we will approach the government of Sudan as we did with the government of Uganda for military supports,” he said.

Sudan, despite its previous accusations against Juba, announced its support to the elected president Salva Kiir. The Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir visited Juba on 6 January where he announced his support to his South Sudan counterpart.

However Khartoum has shown some frustration from the presence of Ugandan troops in the South Sudan. Museveni is seen as seeking to destabilise Bashir’s regime. Kampala harbours the Sudanese rebel groups and accused of providing them military training and weapons.

The South Sudanese rebels during the past weeks accused the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement of participating with the SPLA forces in the recapture of the capital of Unity state, Bentiu. But JEM rebels strongly dismissed the accusations.

The spokesperson of South Sudan army (SPLA) equally refuted allegations of being supported by Sudanese rebels, describing them as “unfounded statements on rebel propaganda”

“The Sudanese press should observe the growing relations between the two countries and report accordingly. They should not rely on the media reports based on propaganda statements by the rebels about the alleged presence of the Sudanese rebels,” Col. Philip Aguer told Sudan Tribune.

“First of all, we have said time and again that there are no Sudanese rebels in the Republic of South Sudan, let alone the unfounded allegations that they are fighting alongside us. The rebel themselves have issued repeated statements clarifying these allegations, yet the Sudanese press continue to ignore these for reasons best known to them”, he added.

The military officer did not, however, hint on whether South Sudan government would request an explanation from Sudanese authorities about persistent reports that its army provides support to Machar rebels currently fighting forces loyal to President Kiir.

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{{Two Kenyans working for a construction company in Mogadishu, Somalia have been abducted by suspected pirates who are now demanding a ransom of Sh80 million.}}

The two engineers were kidnapped by armed gunmen in Hodan District before they were transferred to Harardhere 700 kilometers North of Mogadishu, according to the Seafarers Union of Kenya.

“We are yet to contact the families but we have confirmed that Somali gunmen are holding the two Kenyan engineers,” the union’s Secretary General Andrew Mwangura told reporters in Mombasa, adding “Reports indicate that the two are safe and the gunmen are demanding ransom to release them.”

He said the militia group from Habargidir region has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, after asking for the ransom.

According to Mwangura, the incident was first reported at the Malaysia piracy reporting center, but families of those abducted have not been informed.

The recent kidnapping brings the numbers of Kenyans held captive in Somalia to six among them two soldiers and four civilians.

Piracy cases had dropped significantly in the Indian Ocean since Kenya sent its troops to fight Al Shabaab militants in Somalia, while at the same time increasing surveillance of Naval ships.

Early this month a Kenyan-based merchant vessel was attacked by suspected Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The ill-fated vessel, MV Andrea, was attacked by assailants aboard a white hulled skiff while underway to the port of Mogadishu, Somalia.

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The Allied Democratic Forces rebel group is being blamed for the attack in which radio journalist Germain Kennedy Muliwavyo was killed in an ambush while covering military operations of government forces in eastern Congo.

The 28-year-old worked a private broadcaster Radio Television Muungano in the town of Oicha.

He was shot in the stomach and head in the ambush 60 kilometers outside of Beni in the eastern part of Congo.

According to a friend, Jacques Kikuni, head of the Muungano radio station, two other journalists were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital.

The two Mitterand Hangi, reporter for Radio Television Muungano, and Patient Subiri, reporter for Radio Télévision Rwanzururu, a community radio station based in the city of Beni, were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, the Associated Press reported.

The journalists were in North Kivu and were on their way to report on the village of Kamango, which the Congolese national armed forces had retaken from Ugandan rebels the day before, according to Congolese press freedom group Journaliste En Danger (JED).

Periodic fighting between the Congolese armed forces and rebel groups has made North Kivu the most dangerous region for journalists, according to CPJ research.

CPJ documented at least 15 anti-press violations in 2013.

NV

{{The United Nations has it will send more peacekeeping troops to the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo after a surge in attacks by local militias caused a critical humanitarian crisis.}}

The UN mission in the country (MONUSCO) “has decided to deploy special forces at Pweto to protect Katanga’s population”, MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler said on Twitter.

No decision has been made on the exact size of the reinforcement, but a date for the deployment should be announced shortly, MONUSCO’s military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Prosper Basse told reporters.

Moustapha Soumare, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in DR Congo, called the situation in mineral-rich Katanga “critical”.

“We must step up our humanitarian response if we want to save the province from a general crisis,” he said in a statement.

Katanga’s impoverished area around Manono, Mitwaba and Pweto, in the north of the province, is widely known as the “triangle of death”.

The rampant violence is mainly attributed to the Mai Mai rebel group which fights for a better distribution between the north and south of the wealth stemming from the province’s immense natural resources.

Bakata Katanga rebels, who claim to fight for independence, launched brazen attacks that left dozens of people dead in Lubumbashi in March and November 2013.

Since September 2013 Mai Mai rebels have also burnt down more than 60 villages in attacks on Manono, Mitwaba and Pweto, a statement issued by the UN’s OCHA humanitarian affairs office said Tuesday.

In Pweto alone about 60,000 people have been accommodated after fleeing their homes because of the violence, according to the UN.

The figure for all of Katanga is 402,000 displaced people, compared with 51,000 in 2011.

Katanga, which at almost half a million square kilometres (190,000 square miles) is about the size of Spain, is believed to hold around a third of the world’s cobalt and 10 percent of its copper reserves.

Its capital Lubumbashi is DR Congo’s second largest city and the province has been plagued by secessionist violence since the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960.

AFP

{{Uganda has no desire to keep its troops on South Sudan soil longer than it is necessary and will gradually withdraw them in compliance with the African Union proposal for the deployment of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC) in the new nation, its foreign affairs minister said.}}

“The deployment of ACIRC in South Sudan will facilitate Uganda’s progressive withdrawal and/or redeployment”, Sam Kuteesa said in a statement.

The AU Peace and Security, he added, was expected to meet at an appropriate time, to work out modalities for deployment of ACIRC in South Sudan before the countries that have voluntarily pledged capacity to ACIRC may then provide such support.

“We believe that the deployment of ACIRC is the most logical way to withdraw from South Sudan, without leaving a security vacuum that that can be taken advantage of,” Kuteesa further said.

“We further believe that a political solution will bring about lasting and sustainable peace to this young and sisterly Nation of South Sudan”, he added.

Uganda deployed a contingent of its troops in South Sudan after the outbreak of violence in the country on December 15 last year. Its involvement in the conflict has, however, been widely criticised with the the latest being the United States demanding immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops fighting in the conflict.

But Uganda’s involvement in the over two-month conflict is guided by a Status of Forces Agreement both Khartoum and Juba governments signed at the behest of the latter.

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{{Former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s Private Secretary Nick Wanjohi has denied allegations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecution’s expert witness, Herve Maupeu, that over 500 members of the Mungiki sect were massacred under the former president’s tenure.}}

Wanjohi not only described the allegations as unfounded but malicious as Kibaki had instead sought to “rehabilitate and integrate” members of the sect.

“The allegations attributed to the ‘expert’ amount to nothing but prima facie witchcraft and reckless mischief bereft of any iota of objectivity. Such allegations are best treated with a generous serving of salt and the contempt they deserve,” Wanjohi stated.

Wanjohi questioned the Frenchman’s expertise on Kenya’s socio-political affairs urging that his testimony be taken in the context of an “intellectual poseur.”

“Though described as an ‘expert witness’ he has made several far-fetched and laughable allegations about Kenya. His ‘expert advice’ begs immediate correction and placement within both context and perspective,” he restated.

Free Universal Basic Education and the Youth Fund, both began during President Kibaki’s terms in office, he said, were fine examples of President Kibaki’s attitude toward the youth.

“His administration was concerned with such groupings as Chinkororo, Baghdad Boys, Angola-Musumbiji and Mungiki. The ultimate aim of this initiative was to enable members of such groupings to positively participate in nation-building alongside everybody else,” Wanjohi stated.

On Tuesday, Maupeu told the ICC in the case facing Deputy President William Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang that former security minister, the late John Michuki, orchestrated the “massacre” of Mungiki because he believed they wouldn’t vote for him or Kibaki in the 2007 general election.

“In March 2007 various police forces massacred all the groups that appeared to be Mungiki in Central Province so by the end of 2007, the Mungiki had very little mobilisation capacity,” he testified.

It was however not the first time such an allegation had been made with The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) raising the same concern in 2009.

An accusation the Kenya Police Force, at the time, denied at a time when Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Professor Philip Alston, was finalising a report on extra-judicial killings.

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