Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The Sudanese army has agreed to boost salaries of soldiers and officers by 22% amid growing military activities against rebels in the country.}}

Last month the Sudanese defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein complained to parliament that army salaries are low and do not encourage soldiers to make sacrifices.

Under the new pay adjustment, soldiers and officers will now receive 450 Sudanese pounds ($75) 600 ($100) respectively in what is known as “operations allowance”.

The Sudanese army is now preparing for new offensive in South Kordofan to eject rebels of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) from Abu Kershola district in South Kordofan state.

A week ago, the SRF, which includes the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), along with several Darfur rebel groups, launched a major attack most notably in Um Rawaba, the second-largest town in North Kordofan state, during coordinated attacks on several nearby areas.

In the past, the rebels’ military activity was generally confined to the Darfur region, as well as the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The only exception was in 2008 when the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked Sudan’s twin capital of Omdurman.

The Sudanese government has began a mobilizing campaign to support the army and the Sudanese parliament suspended its activities next week to allow MP’s to head to their constituencies in order to rally youth behind the army.

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{{Congolese troops fleeing the M23 rebels last November raped at least 97 women and 33 girls, some as young as 6, according to a UN report.}}

The report, released on Wednesday covered “mass rape, killings, and arbitrary executions and violations resulting from widespread looting,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

A report by the UN Joint Human Rights Office said most of the rapes took place over November 22-23 in the eastern Congo town of Minova.

The report states: “One or two of the soldiers would leave with the looted goods and at least one would stand guard as the remaining (Congolese) soldiers raped women and girls in the house. Victims were threatened with death if they shouted; some were raped at gunpoint. Most victims were raped by more than one soldier.”

“The victims included 33 girls aged between 6 and 17,” Nesirky said.

{{The United Nations has given strong backing to the new leadership of Somalia ahead of a donor conference in London on Tuesday that will seek pledges to rebuild the East African country torn apart by two decades of civil war. }}

Deputy U.N. Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the United Nations wanted to shift more of its efforts into development projects and away from humanitarian aid as Somalia begins to recover from years of lawlessness, violence and famine.

“The main reason we have hope now, more than ever..is we now have a leadership which has a sense of responsibility,” Eliasson told reporters.

A draft of the final communique for the London conference said the meeting was taking place at a “pivotal” moment for Somalia, and calls on the international community to “consolidate progress quickly”.

Somali officials are expected to outline plans for Somalia’s security forces, justice sector and other institutions, and agree with global partners on how they can back those plans.

New donors were encouraged to come forward at the conference, to which more than 50 countries and organisations have been invited, and existing donors will be called on to honour earlier pledges.

Concerns remain over corruption, however, and while the draft communique recognises the “urgent need” for financial support, it underscores the need for the government to demonstrate financial accountability and transparency.

Somalia’s humanitarian needs are still huge, and U.N. bodies estimate aid requirements will cost $1.33 billion this year, an increase on last year due to improved access to deprived areas.

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{{Kenya has heightened its efforts to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) terminate proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and former Kass FM presenter Joshua arap Sang.}}

In a letter sent to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last Friday, UN Permanent Representative Macharia Kamau asked the president of the Security Council to inform ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to end the proceedings as they were a threat to Kenya’s national security.

“It is obvious that their absence from the country may undermine the prevailing peace and any resultant insecurity may spill over to the neighbouring countries.”

He added: “There is nothing on record to justify that the continuation of the case is in the interest of justice or necessary for keeping of the peace in the republic,” the letter reads.

The message was supposed to be communicated on Tuesday when the UN Security Council was to meet Bensouda.

Describing the ICC proceedings as partial and a ‘manipulation from different actors,’ Kamau further complained that they were tarnishing the image of Kenya more so that of the president and his deputy.

In the request to have the two cases against the three halted, he explained that the court’s conduct in the Kenyan situation had raised eyebrows in the manner in which investigations were carried out, citing the withdrawal of evidence and prosecution witnesses.

“The proceedings are misplaced. The original claims might have been false and/or manufactured. There is nothing on record to justify the continuation of the cases in Kenya. Obviously, the prosecution advocated its duty of the Rome Statute by failing to undertake investigations and brought before the court testimonies made by coached witnesses,” Kamau asserted.

He further pointed out at withdrawal of charges against three persons who were being investigated alongside Kenyatta, Ruto and Sang as another indication that the court probably has the wrong persons being blamed for masterminding the 2008 post election violence in Kenya.

According to the ambassador, the prosecution did not establish the real financiers and organisers of the violence that left over 1,000 people dead, over 350,000 others displaced amidst loss of property worth millions of shillings.

“In light of the foregoing, it seems reasonable to assume that the court has the wrong people before it and it is a miscarriage of justice to continue trying them when the prosecution case is manifestly wanting,” Macharia added.

He argues withdrawal of charges against former Civil Service chief Francis Muthaura by the prosecution was regrettable as it took the court two years to acquit him of allegations levelled against him.

“A classic example of this lack of merit, legal locus or usefulness is the cruel and inhuman treatment that was meted out on Muthaura. After his indictment his reputation built over a long tenure of national, regional and international levels suffered a lot that will forever haunt him.

After two years of unimaginable mental anguish, pain and torture, the prosecution unilaterally decided to drop this indictment stating there was no evidence to continue case against him,” Kamau decried.

He appealed for Kenya’s sovereignty to be respected as it had made strides through the adoption of the new constitution that has reformed institutions in view of the judicial reforms that have improved the local courts.

According to the diplomat, Kenya is in a position to handle the 2008 post election violence with the kind of reforms still being implemented.

“Kenya has the capacity to offer a home-grown solution. Clearly Kenya has made incredible, historic, even unprecedented strides in improvements of its governance system and institutions over the past 2 and half years,” he adds.

Whereas he called for support from likeminded countries, he asked the UNSC to help Kenya’s new administration to continue with its development agenda, “the incoming administration must and should be given a chance to start off without the yoke and burdens of the past fettering their actions.”

Kamau said burdening Kenyatta and Ruto with the ICC cases was denying Kenyans leadership and was a risk to peace of the country.

He said the two leaders have been at the forefront promoting peace and reconciliation and hence the court should leave them to continue with the responsibilities assigned to them by Kenyans.

“Nothing to justify continuation of the case is in the interest of peace and justice in Kenya. Kenyans in whom this sovereignty right rests spoke with a loud, clear and concise voice when they overwhelmingly elected Kenyatta and Ruto.

We are therefore concerned that the court may or is being used to undermine the voice of Kenyans contrary to these very fundamental principles,” Kamau said.

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{{The trial of Deputy President William Ruto and broadcaster Joshua arap Sang at the International Criminal Court has been put off.}}

A new date will be announced after the trial chamber hears the prosecution and defence during separate private sessions, and later jointly during open sitting, the judges announced Monday.

Ruto had called for the trial, in which he faces charges of crimes against humanity, to be moved to November citing the inclusion of evidence from five new witnesses and the shortage of time for the defence to prepare its case.

“Therefore, the Chamber hereby, without prejudice to the Chamber’s decisions on the pending requests, vacates the trial date of 28 May 2013,” judges Kuniko Ozaki, Robert Fremr and Chile Eboe-Osuji ruled.

They added: “The new start date for trial will be rendered in due course.”

Mr Ruto faces three counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the violence that erupted in Kenya after the disputed presidential election in 2007.

Prosecutors had last month sought to add five witnesses to their list, prompting Mr Ruto’s lawyers to ask for a status conference to discuss the case’s progress.

The judges granted the prosecution time today to argue their case for the additional witnesses during private hearings in The Hague.

It will be followed by a similar session with the Ruto and Sang defences at a date to be announced later before both parties are heard in public on May 14.

The judges said: “The Chamber considers it necessary to receive additional information from the prosecution about the request to add five witnesses to the prosecution’s witness list.”

Another case involving President Uhuru Kenyatta was scheduled for hearing in June. Cases against former civil service head Francis Muthaura, Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and former Cabinet minister Henry Kosgey were dropped.

Ruto’s team had asked for the trial date to be moved to November.

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South Sudan on Monday lodged a strongly worded complaint to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over the killing of Abyei tribal leader Kuol Deng Kuol, warning that until the perpetuators are identified and brought to justice, it is no longer “business as usual”.

South Sudan’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Nhial Deng Nhial, said his country takes the death of the paramount chief of the Dinka Ngok “more seriously” and will not tolerate the case being taken lightly by the international community.

“We have started with clear procedures, legal steps. We have now officially filed and deposited our complaint about this brutal act which violates not only the international law but also humanitarian law.

Chief Kuol Deng Kuol was not in combat; He was not carrying a gun; not in possession of any weapon.

He was purely [an] unarmed civilian killed in the hands of the United Nations. His security and safety was in the hands of the United Nations”, Nhial said, while addressing thousands of mourners who turned out for Kuol’s burial on Monday in Abyei town.

South Sudan’s top diplomat said that in the course of the past week, his country has observed a higher number of atrocities being committed in the area by armed groups under the control of the Sudanese government, in what he said was not only a clear violation of the UNSC resolution 2046 but an act that must be condemned and confronted.

“The killing of [the] chief was not just an incident. It was preceded by reports of regular killings in the area.

The list of those who have been killed has been filed and the United Nations has the details and we believe the killing of the chief will not be taken lightly nor [do] we expect the international community to consider [Kuol’s death] a normal thing or usual business … We hold the government of Sudan responsible because those who killed the chief are under the control of the government of Sudan. They are no stranger to Sudan”, he added.

Speaking at the same gathering, Pagan Amum, Secretary Feneral of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), accused Sudan of “doing it again”, explaining that his country had immediately responded and pulled out all armed forces from border areas as required by the UNSC resolution 2046 and the African Union communiqué, but Sudan had failed to comply.

“This brutal act defines the behavior of the government of Sudan. They have done it again. The killing of the paramount chief of this community will have a lot of repercussions, especially on the relations between the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya. It will have [an] effect on peaceful coexistence.

The Misseriya seems [to] not know where their interest lies”, Amum told reporters in Abyei after flying in from Juba on Monday.

“The people of Abyei have suffered a lot in the hands of the government in Khartoum but they will one day be free whether those in Khartoum like it or not. Or whether it will rain blood and fire, they will exercise their right to decide their own destiny. I am confident they will be free. It is just a matter of time”, he added.

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{{A US doctor pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sexually abusing at least 14 children over an eight-year period in Kenya working at hospitals and with aid groups, a US Justice Department statement said.}}

John Ott, 67, faces up to 30 years in jail and a $250,000 (Sh20 million) fine when he is sentenced on July 26 after admitting to a harrowing catalogue of crimes.

The Justice Department stated Ott had also started an orphanage in Kenya during his time in the country.

His victims ranged from nine to 17 years old.

Ott admitted he frequently paid for schooling and offered financial support to his victims.

Ott has been in federal custody since he was arrested in December 2012, following his deportation from Tanzania.

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