Tag: GreatLakesNews

{World leaders have stepped up efforts to pull South Sudan back from the brink of an all-out civil war, as fighting raged across the country including in a key oil-producing region.}

Special envoys from the United States and Nigeria were flying into the capital Juba on Sunday, following on from a mission by foreign ministers from east Africa and after an appeal for an end to the violence from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Fighting has been raging in South Sudan for a week, after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup. Machar has denied this, and has accused Kiir of carrying out a vicious purge of his rivals.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, Machar said he wants to be the next leader of the country.

He said his troops are in control of Unity state where a military government has been established, and his forces will maintain security in South Sudan’s oil fields.

The fighting has left hundreds dead and sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for protection in UN bases or to safer areas of the country, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011 but has been blighted by ethnic divisions, corruption and poverty.

Toby Lanzer, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, tweeted from the UN base in the hotspot city of Bor in Jonglei State on Sunday that there were over 15,000 people sheltering there.

“Things are changing by the hour,” he tweeted. “We are under intense pressure here, as are other locations in Jonglei. Massive setback for South Sudan.”

The fighting has both ethnic and political dimensions, as troops loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battle forces backing Machar, a Nuer.

Foreign governments, including those of the US, Britain, Uganda and Kenya, have been organising special evacuation flights to pull out their nationals. On Saturday four US servicemen were wounded when their planes were fired at in a rebel-held area.

The attack underlined the increasingly dangerous situation in the country, where at least one UN base has also come under attack in recent days – with the deaths of two Indian peacekeepers and possibly dozens of civilians.

President Barack Obama warned against continued fighting.

“Any effort to seize power through the use of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the United States and the international community,” the White House said.

Government loses territory

South Sudan’s government meanwhile acknowledged that much of Unity State, the country’s main oil-producing area, was in the hands of the rebels.

Machar denies government suggestions that rebels have been forced out of Bor, which is situated about 200 kilometres north of Juba, although South Sudan’s army spokesman said government troops were advancing.

A local official in Bentiu – the rebel-held capital of Unity State – said the area was littered with bodies following the fall of the town, which was prompted by the defection of a top government commander.

“There are so many bodies, over a hundred not yet buried,” the local official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Army spokesman Aguer confirmed that “Unity State is currently divided, with the SPLA and the loyalists to the government on one side and those who are supporting Riek Machar on the other.”

“We are not in control of Bentiu and we don’t know how many people are wounded and how many people are killed,” Aguer said.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

NAIROBI, Dec 19 – {Top ministers from four regional nations flew to troubled South Sudan on Thursday to kick start efforts to end days of fighting that has raised fears of a return to civil war in the young country.}

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, who said she was “en-route to South Sudan to offer first hand assistance”, told AFP she was with teams from Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda.

“It’s a regional issue and the government of Kenya must be part of the solution process,” she said.

All are members of the regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development(IGAD), whose members played key roles in pushing forward the 2005 deal that ended Sudan’s two-decades long civil war with the south.

Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo offered her support.

CapitalNews

{The airport’s runway is reportedly only 1.620 metres long, or 5.315 feet, too short for regular B767 operations, so the question is now being asked what prompted this high risk landing at ARK (IATA three letter code) / HTAR (ICAO four letter code). The airport’s elevation is given in official documents as 4.550 feet above mean sea level or 1.387 metres.}

The aircraft, registered as ET-AQW was operating on flight number ET815 from Addis via Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar and back to Addis.

From initial reports it appears that none of the passengers or crew have been injured and that the plane made it to a complete halt just before the end of the runway. The airport in Arusha has reportedly been closed for any other flights in and out of ARK requiring the rescheduling of Precision Air’s flights as well as a number of charters from and to the national parks

Additional sources from Kilimanjaro International Airport just gave added details that the flight was approaching JRO but could not land due to an aircraft on the runway with a problem. Why the flight was then diverted to ARK and not a standard diversion airport like Nairobi or Dar es Salaam will be subject to a detailed investigation, especially if rumours were to be confirmed that the incoming flight was short of fuel.

The diversion to Arusha Municipal Airport is already being hotly debated in local aviation circles as it put passengers, crew and aircraft at extreme risk. It is unclear if the B767, even if stripped of equipment and seats, will be able to safely take off from ARK and fly to JRO, when that airport is eventually open and fully operational again.

While full compliments must be extended to the cockpit crew for their skills to land the plane safely the reasons for the diversion will be subject to a full air incident enquiry with all options presently kept open as to the reasons for the unscheduled diversion. Stand by for more updates as and when more news and additional information become available.

Source eTN

{Police in Tanzania have arrested 38 women for carrying out illegal genital mutilation on a group of girls, a local mayor says.}

The women were arrested on Sunday as they performed a traditional dance around a house where police found 21 girls, aged from three to 15, who had recently undergone excision.

“As soon as I heard about it I sent the police round,” Herman Kapufi, mayor of Same district in northern Tanzania, told national television on Monday.

Kapufi said some of the girls were still bleeding while others had wounds that were healing.

Female genital mutilation is still performed in some parts of Tanzania, despite having been outlawed officially in 1998.

Studies estimate that 15 percent of women and girls have undergone genital mutilation – removal of the clitoris in the vast majority of cases.

The practice, generally carried out with a knife or a razor blade without anaesthesia and in non-sterile conditions, attracts a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

In some communities in Tanzania, women who have not undergone excision are victims of social exclusion.

Observers also cite a widespread belief that a woman who has been “cut” is more faithful to her husband.

Given the conditions in which the excision is done, girls often die from their injuries or from resulting infections

AAP

{The South Sudanese ambassador to Uganda has said that fighting broke out after forces loyal to the former vice president attempted to take control of the barracks to secure weapons to carry out a coup against the government of President Salva Kiir.}

Ambassador Samuel Luate Lominsuk was on Tuesday briefing journalists on the background of the ongoing fighting in Juba as well as the current situation in the capital Juba. He said that the attackers were repelled and many of them fled.

He said that it began when the SPLM Liberation Council was in a meeting attended by delegates from all the 10 state of the country, including President Kiir. However, former vice president Dr. Riek Machar who is the current deputy chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) did not attend the meeting with other senior party members.
The absentees at the meeting, including Dr. Machar, are part of a group that lost their position during a cabinet reshuffle in May this year.

“Motives for this group not attending the party’s session were not clear to the rest of the members who were in attendance,” Lominsuk said.

He said that the same dissenting soldiers were repelled when they next attacked a barracks nearby to the SPLA general headquarters in an attempt to seize weapons and to advance to the general headquarters to control it.

He said that there is an ongoing dusk to dawn curfew, while the government is doing all it can to restore order and protect citizens, foreign nationals and the diplomatic corps.

“As a member of the UN, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is committed to its duty of resolving this situation amicably and is committed to a dialogue that will restore the peace amongst the people of South Sudan regardless of the agenda, political affiliation, etc,” said Lominsuk.

New Vision

{The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sent attack helicopters and manned foot patrols into the country’s strife-torn North Kivu province after discovering the bodies of 21 civilians brutally slaughtered, including babies, children and women, some mutilated, others raped.}

Troops from the UN Mission of Stabilization in the DRC (MONUSCO) made the gruesome discovery on Friday and Saturday in Musuku village in the Rwenzori area of Beni sector.

The killers have yet to be identified, but unconfirmed reports and villagers interrogated in the area strongly suspect that this could have been the work of the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), two of several armed groups that have terrorized North Kivu for years.

“These atrocities will not [go] unpunished and the perpetrators will know no respite as long as they have not been held accountable for their actions before the law,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative in the DRC, Martin Kobler, said today in a statement, condemning the murders in the strongest terms.

The victims were killed with machetes or knives, and the youngest among the dead was only a few months old while three girls are reported to have been raped before being beheaded, MONUSCO said, stressing that the attack helicopters and foot patrols aimed to take control of the area and prevent a further deterioration of security for the civilian population.

“MONUSCO reminds all armed groups that the killing of civilian population, who are not party to the conflict, is considered a crime against humanity,” the mission added.

Another armed movement in the eastern DRC, the M23 rebels, recently signed an accord with the DRC Government after repeated clashes with the army supported by a MONUSCO intervention force.

UN peacekeepers are now shifting their focus to other groups in North Kivu, including Mayi Mayi and the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) as well as NALU and ADF.

Fierce fighting has continued in the east even after various UN peace missions helped to bring relative stability to other areas of the vast country which was torn asunder by civil war from 1996 to 2003, in which well over 4 million people are estimated to have died, mainly from starvation and disease.

{The United States has started evacuating its citizens from South Sudan, with fears that the military crisis and power struggles haunting Juba could plunge the two year-old nation into a civil war.}

The US said though parts of Juba appear calm, “we continue to receive reports of violent activities throughout South Sudan.”

On December 17, 2013, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. Embassy personnel from Juba, South Sudan, after an attempted coup attracted the wrath of Gen Salva Kiir, with over 63 people killed and dozens of government officials arrested.

The U.S. Embassy in Juba said it would be assisting U.S. citizens who wish to depart Juba. “U.S. citizens should review their personal security situation and consider taking advantage of planned flights arranged by the Department of State, as the embassy is able to provide only limited emergency consular services,” the statement from the Juba mission, reads in part.

“Citizens who wish to take advantage of flights arranged by the Department of State should arrive at the Juba Airport no later than 10:30 this morning, December 18.”

The Embassy also clarified that private U.S. citizens will need to arrange their own transport to the airport and should consider personal safety of that travel in doing so and that assistance will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible U.S. citizens.

The Juba Airport was reopened on Tuesday but the safety of the aircrafts amidst the flaring tensions in the volatile country remains a matter of concern.

The U.S. Department of State is expected to arrange for additional transportation as necessary to accommodate demand, and taking into account security conditions.

“Please be aware that each traveler is limited to one suitcase, and pets cannot be accommodated. All travelers must have travel documentation,” the brief added. “Departure assistance is provided on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable. This means that you will be asked to sign a form promising to repay the U.S. government. We charge you the equivalent of a full coach fare on commercial air at the time that commercial options cease to be a viable option, and you will be required to sign a promissory note for this amount and to pay this fare at a later date. You will be taken to a safe haven country, from which the traveler will need to make his or her own onward travel arrangements. If you are destitute, and private resources are not available to cover the cost of onward travel, you may be eligible for emergency financial assistance. Please also be aware that there is a limit of one suitcase per person.”

The decision by the U.S to fly out its citizens is a reminder to other states to step up preparations to evacuate their citizens. Already, two Ugandans have been shot dead in the conflict. Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Fred Opolot said Kampala is assessing the situation and that an escalation in the violence would lead to the evacuation of thousands of Ugandans from South Sudan. While the fighting has temporarily come to a halt, military forces are pursuing sacked Vice President, Riek Machar who is feared to be forging alliances with other groups opposed to Kiir’s government to start a fully-fledged war.

Chimpreport

At least 21 people, including women and a baby, were killed over the weekend in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission there has said.

Most of those killed appeared to have been hacked to death on Friday and Saturday in villages not far from Beni in Congo’s North Kivu province, according to a statement on Monday by Martin Kobler, head of the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO.

It was not clear who was responsible for the killings, but they highlighted the challenge facing Congo’s army and UN forces pacifying Congo’s east despite the defeat of M23 rebels, the most serious uprising in years.

“These atrocities will not go unpunished,” Kobler said in a statement. Three girls appear to have been raped and then beheaded while one of the victims was just months old, the statement added.

The statement did not say who was believed to be responsible.

Aljazeera reports that Congo-based Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels operate in the region alongside a plethora of other groups still plaguing civilians.

Agencies

{Fresh gunfire rang out in South Sudan’s capital early on Tuesday, a day after the president announced he had put down a coup by a faction of the army supporting his former vice president, an AFP reporter said.}

The gunfire – including the sporadic firing of heavy weapons – resumed in the early hours of Tuesday and was still audible at 9am (0600 GMT). It appeared to come from a military headquarters, a few kilometres from the centre of town.

The streets of the capital Juba in the world’s newest nation were deserted, with only military vehicles to be seen and civilians barricaded in their homes.

Soldiers loyal to Riek Machar, the former vice president, attempted to overthrow the government, President Salva Kiir said in a statement on Monday, adding that security forces had regained control, although a dawn-to-dusk curfew had been imposed.

The soldiers had attacked the South Sudanese military headquarters near Juba University late on Sunday, sparking sporadic clashes that continued on Monday, the president said.

“The attackers went and [the] armed forces are pursuing them,” Kiir added.

“I promise you today that justice will prevail.”

Details of the attempted coup remained sketchy, but South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the Associated Press news agency that troops in the main army base raided a weapons store in Juba but were repulsed.

Some politicians had since been arrested, he said, but could not confirm if Machar – who he said led the attempted coup – was among them. Benjamin said the coup was plotted by “disgruntled” soldiers and politicians led by Machar.

Agencies