Bashir have you seen they better than you!

S. Sudan’s rival SPLM leaders commit themselves to ending war


May 9, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar agreed on Friday to end fighting in the country and allow humanitarian access to affected civilians.

Under the deal the signatories “Agree to immediately cease all hostile activities within 24 hours of the signing of this agreement, thus rededicating ourselves to the cessation of hostilities agreement of 23 January 2014, and further agree to facilitate the full deployment of [the] IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM)”.



Text: Agreement to Resolve the Crisis in South Sudan

In line with the signed guideline document, the parties also agreed to open humanitarian corridors, and “to cooperate, unconditionally with the UN and humanitarian agencies to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches affected populations in all areas of South Sudan”.

The two leaders further agreed to form a transitional government of national unity and to include all South Sudanese stakeholders in the peace process and the negotiation of an interim government to “ensure broad ownership of the agreed outcomes”.

Peace talks being mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD were recently limited to the South Sudanese government and Machar’s SPLM/A in Opposition, however, under the new agreement other stakeholders, including former political detainees, opposition parties, civil society and faith-based groups, will be allowed to take part.

In comments following the signing ceremony, both Kiir and Machar expressed their willingness to implement the agreement and end hostilities.

The two leaders, who prayed together prior to signing the agreement, were later congratulated by the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.

Machar arrived in Addis Ababa late on Thursday, while president Kiir arrived on Friday where he was received by Ethiopian foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom upon arrival at Bole international Airport.

The two parties held separate consultative meetings on Friday with the Ethiopian prime minister prior to the face to face talks brokered by IGAD.

Direct talks got underway later the same day following discussions on ways to resolve the ongoing crisis and arrangements for future transitional governance.

Ongoing peace negotiations between the two sides have failed to reach a lasting political solution to the nearly five-month-old conflict, which erupted in mid-December last year after political tensions between Kiir and his former deputy turned violent.

Kiir accused Machar, who was sacked last July, of staging a coup to overthrow his government by force – an accusation the latter denies.

Friday’s deal aims to speed up national reconciliation and to bring an immediate end to the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced more than 1.3 million people.

The deal also ensures the inclusion of the group of SPLM leaders who were jail in connection to their involvement in the alleged coup plot, but later released without charge.

Juba initially opposed to their involvement in peace negotiations, saying talks should be restricted to the two parties directly involved in the conflict.

On Friday, Machar met with Pagan Amum, the former secretary-general of South Sudan’s ruling SPLM party, along with three other former colleagues, including Oyai Deng Ajak, Majak Agoot and Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.

The meeting was Kiir’s first face to face contact with the group of former political detainees, who had been on trial for treason before the government dropped the case.

Government and rebel negotiators signed a shaky ceasefire agreement on 23 January but the deal was never implemented, with both sides trading accusations of violating its terms.

The fighting has divided the country’s army along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer group.

The UN has accused both rival groups of committing crimes against humanity, including mass killings and gang rapes.

(ST)

A very shamefull action.

US, Canada decry Sudan’s bombing of South Kordofan hospital


May 8, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The American and Canadian embassies in Khartoum have strongly condemned a reported attack by the Sudanese air force on a hospital in South Kordofan.

“The embassies in Khartoum of Canada and the United States extend their condolences to the victims of the recently reported bombings of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan,” the statement reads.

“Reports indicate a number of bombs were dropped near the hospital on May 1 and 2 by Sudanese Armed Forces aircraft, causing injuries and terrifying patients and staff alike,” it adds.

Nuba Reports, an independent news site reporting on the restive Nuba Mountains area, said that the hospital in Gidel village was bombed last week over a two-day period.

A video uploaded to the website purportedly showed people running for cover during the air raid amid explosions and sounds of fighter jets roaming overhead.

It noted that this hospital is run by the Diocese of El Obeid – one of the few organisations operating in the Nuba Mountains where international aid agencies are banned by the Sudanese government and treats 150,000 patients annually

“[It] is the only hospital facility for the Nuban people who have been cut off from the outside world and greater Sudan by their own government. The only other option is the four to six day walk south to the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan. But with South Sudan’s civil war inching ever closer, refugees at Yida are at risk of being caught in the crossfire,” the website said.

The two embassies said that they are “appalled by this attack on those providing essential medical care or humanitarian assistance to people in need. International humanitarian law obligates all parties to a conflict to distinguish civilians from combatants”.

“This latest event only heightens our concerns about the protection of civilians in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, where [the] Sudanese Armed Forces continue indiscriminate aerial bombardments of civilians and civilian areas,” said their press release.

“We call upon the Government of Sudan to account for the apparent targeting of a healthcare facility and its patients. We urge all parties to the conflict to take the necessary steps through the African Union-led effort to achieve a cessation of hostilities and allow for full humanitarian access,” it adds.

Last year, the Sudanese government vowed to crush rebellions in all conflict zones including the one in South Kordofan.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest weekly bulletin that more than 100,000 have been displaced recently in South Kordofan as a result of the fighting between the Sudanese army and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

Peace talks sponsored by the African Union between the two warring sides were adjourned last month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, after failing to seal a framework agreement.

(ST)

Direct talks and PLEASE STOP THE CIVIL WAR.!!!

HOME

NEWS MONDAY 5 MAY 2014

South Sudan’s rival leaders to hold direct talks on Friday

May 5, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has agreed to meet face to face with former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar on Friday, senior diplomats in Juba disclosed on Monday.

“The Ethiopian prime minister in his capacity as the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has notified the government of the meeting which the president had accepted to take place between him and Riek Machar,” a senior diplomat told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

“I am told the meeting will take place [this] Friday 9 [April],” added the official who requested anonymity.

He, however, did not elaborate on the agenda the two leaders would discus, although many analysts and observers say the meeting would diffuse the tensions and raise hope for a cessation of hostilities.

Several leading rebel officials reached by Sudan Tribune also confirmed receiving similar notification from the mediation team. They equally said the two leaders would meet on 9 May for the first time since the conflict erupted in the country’s capital, Juba, in 15 December 2013.

“Yes, it is true we also received the same notification today (Monday) from the mediation team. We hope this will calm down the situation. On our side, Dr. Riek Machar has no problem to meet with Salva Kiir,” a key rebel leader said from Addis Ababa on Monday.

The current situation would have not developed to the level it is today if president Kiir had accepted to engage in dialogue with the other SPLM leaders before the start of violence in the country, he added.

US secretary of state John Kerry during a visit to Juba last week said the two antagonists will meet to reaffirm their commitment to the cessation of hostilities agreement and discuss a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

However rebel leader Riek Machar on Saturday said that any agreement on a power-sharing transitional government without a programme would be meaningless.

“I asked him (Kerry) what would be the purpose of a transitional government? It would not be workable without a programme to implement before elections come,” Machar told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

“We need to have a peace agreement first with a new constitution. Putting [a] transitional government first is not realistic,” he added.

Speaking to reporters in Luanda, Angola, Kerry minimised the objections raised by the former vice-president and said the expects that the meeting between Kiir and Machar would takes place as scheduled.

“He left the door open,” Kerry said when he was speaking about Machar position, adding that the rebel leader “expressed some doubts, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t go”.

Machar “has a fundamental decision to make. If he decides not to and procrastinates then we have a number of different options that are available to us. We said we are serious and there will be accountability and implications if people do not join into this legitimate effort,” the American top diplomat further pointed out.

The bishop of the reformed Episcopal of South Sudan, Gabriel Roric, called on the two warring parties to observe the truce they agreed and to comment themselves to achieve a sustainable peace and development , adding that the Church had intensified prayers for reconciliation.

“We the Christians of different communions have come together in the common cause of peace, are deeply concerned about the growing hostilities and the suffering which our people continues to face,” Roric told Sudan Tribune in a separate interview on Monday.

He said the church would engage in prayers of penitence and petition with the people scarred and pained by the division of the nation and support the efforts of the National Council of Church for reconciliation, peace and reunification.

Roric further urged the two sides to engage in talks in good faith to end suffering. Also he called on the United States and all stakeholders involved to immediately resuming dialogue and negotiations to establish a peace agreement eliminating the threat of sanction and conventional war thereby establishing an enduring peace it also called the UN Security Council to support peace efforts between the two rivals.

(ST)