Day: May 7, 2021

South Sudan’s Presidential Affairs Minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin and the Ethiopian Ambassador to South Sudan, Nebil Mandi on Thursday discussed developments regarding the Ethiopia-Sudan border dispute, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiation and the upcoming elections in Ethiopia.

A statement extended to Sudan Tribune said Marial expounded Ethiopia’s longstanding support to his country, stressing how Ethiopians stood with the South Sudanese when they needed friends.

He emphasized the importance of cooperation in linking the two countries and the region through electric power, highways and other vital infrastructure that facilitate utilisation of development potentials.

Commending Ethiopia’s persistent efforts for peace and stability in South Sudan, Marial requested the ambassador to further enhance support for the full implementation of the peace agreement.

Meanwhile, Nebil briefed the South Sudanese official on the latest improvements in the Tigray region, notably the relief and humanitarian efforts being conducted by the Ethiopian government.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Geneva – An armed force wearing police uniform opened fire at a peaceful sit-in in the Al-Udayyah neighborhood in West Kordofan, Sudan Wednesday morning, which killed a woman and injured seven people, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement. The state government should ensure that the investigation it opened into the incident is impartial and independent.

Since their sit-in began on December 20, the protesters have been demanding improvements to their living conditions and services.

At 1:30 a.m. yesterday, the Sudanese security forces attempted to dispraise the sit-in. The attempt led to the killing of a woman, injuring and arresting others, and damaging several public properties.

Eyewitnesses told Euro-Med Monitor that a regular force wearing police uniforms attacked a group of protesters while they were in front of the headquarters of the locality presidency. The force used tear gas, light assault rifles (AK47) and other heavy machine guns (DShK). The heavy fire killed Mrs. Howayda Omar Hassan, and wounded seven other people. The force also burned the protesters’ tents and arrested several of them.

Ismail Ali (pseudonym), one of the participants in the sit-in, told Euro-Med Monitor: “As a result of the attacks that took place yesterday during the sit-in, we demanded the governor to come [visit the city]. We organized a march and headed towards the locality office. A military force intercepted us and started firing live bullets and tear gas to disperse us, which led to other injuries”.

According to eyewitnesses, the aggressive nature that the security forces used to deal with the protesters only led to more violence. The protesters set fire to the headquarters of the locality and several other government buildings, in addition to burning the house of the executive director of the area and some government vehicles.

For its part, the West Kordofan State Office issued a statement about the events, saying that the state “will open an investigation into these unfortunate events to find out the motives of those behind them, count the casualties, and punish the perpetrators who participated in them”.

Dispersing the sit-in represents a duplicate policy of the Sudanese authorities. The authorities have already carried out several operations like this incident since the ouster of former President Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019; the bloodiest of which was the dispersal of a sit-in at the front of the General Command building in Khartoum in June 2019. At the time, 13 people were killed, and 116 peaceful protesters were wounded.

This excessive use of force would kill any attempt by individuals to exercise their right to peaceful assembly, and heavily indicates Sudan’s systematic policy of targeting peaceful demonstrations, which eradicates any manifestation of peaceful protests that contravenes with the directions of the government authorities.

The Sudanese transitional authorities are obligated to respect the citizens right to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly. This is the provisional authorities’ duty, especially since one of the most important goals on which it was founded, is to achieve transitional justice and establish principles of democracy and freedom after decades of dictatorship.

The Sudanese authorities should:

• hold all those involved in the use of violence against the demonstrators accountable and ensure that they do not enjoy impunity;
• listen to the protesters’ demands and reach an agreement with them to improve their living conditions and the services provided;
• respect local and international laws that guarantee all individuals and entities the right to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly;
• appoint independent individuals to investigate the accident and grant them the powers and resources necessary to carry out the investigation in a transparent manner.

 

 

Source: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor

(KHARTOUM) – Volker Perthes Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, and Abdel Wahid al-Nur head of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) discussed peace in Sudan in a meeting held on Thursday.

Perthes is in the South Sudanese capital Juba as he would brief the UN Security Council about the ongoing efforts to achieve peace in Sudan and the democratic transition on 14 May.

He is expected to discuss the peace process with the South Sudanese officials ahead of the resumption of the negotiations between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu on 25 May.

In a tweet posted on Thursday, the UNITAMS head said he had a “Constructive exchange about questions of peace and citizenship in Sudan with Abdel Wahid al-Nur in Juba”.

Also, the SLM-AW issued a statement saying that al-Nur briefed Perthes “about the Movement’s vision to achieve a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in Sudan (…) and the Sudanese Sudanese dialogue initiative inside the country that the Movement would announce soon”.

The SLM-AW rejected joining the peace process held in Juba last year between the government, the armed groups in Darfur and the SPLM-N led by Malik Agar.

The holdout group says planning to hold an inclusive conference inside the country.

In a statement issued in Khartoum before his travel to Juba on 4 May, Perthes expressed hope that the imminent talks between the government and the SPLM-N al-Hilu will “encourage all remaining non-signatories to engage in good faith with the Sudanese authorities to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in Sudan”.

 

Source: Sudan Tribune

The United States is again stepping into efforts to resolve a dispute over Ethiopia’s massive hydropower dam along an important Nile tributary.

The new U.S. envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is visiting Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia this week as part of Washington’s new push to resolve the dispute.

Tensions continue to rise among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Internationally supported negotiations have stagnated, and Egypt has said it will respond to any threats to its water supplies, raising concerns of possible conflict. The United States tried to mediate in 2019 but talks collapsed last year.

On his first stop, Feltman met Wednesday with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and other Egyptian officials. El-Sissi stressed that Cairo sees the dam as an existential issue for Egypt and warned that his government would not tolerate any moves by Addis Ababa that could reduce Egypt’s share of water from the Nile because of GERD. He urged the U.S. to play “an effective role” to settle the dispute.

Feltman was quoted as saying U.S. President Joe Biden was “serious in settling such a sensitive issue.”

The Ethiopian dam sits astride the Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia. The Blue Nile flows into Sudan to join the White Nile, forming the Nile, flowing north through Egypt.

The dam’s hydropower generators are expected to provide electricity to 60% of Ethiopia, which Addis Ababa sees as crucial to lifting millions out of poverty.

But Cairo and Khartoum fear the dam could reduce their water supplies, especially in Egypt, where the Nile supplies 97% of fresh water.

Risk of water war

Some regional security experts have said if international efforts do not break the deadlock, the Ethiopian dam could end up being the cause of a water war threatening the entire region.

Before the meeting, Mohamed Nasr Allam, a former Egyptian minister of water resources, said Egyptian authorities believed Ethiopia had not negotiated in good faith.

“We spent about nine years negotiating and did not end up with any useful thing in terms of operation or filling, but when the United States intervened, they facilitated meetings,” Allam said. “[We] ended up with almost common conclusions by the three parties with very good scenarios for filling and operation.”

The 2019 talks also produced a legal framework that Egypt and Sudan had sought before the dam was filled, as well as measures on conflict resolution, he said.

Ethiopia ultimately declined to sign the agreement, however, in part because of concerns the deal would restrict its use of the water within its borders. The Ethiopian government repeatedly has offered to continue negotiating and has asked the African Union to join mediation efforts.

Allam said Egypt and Sudan have deep concerns about the risk that the dam could cut their Nile water quotas. Under a decades-old agreement, Egypt gets 55.5 billion cubic meters and Sudan gets 18 billion cubic meters. That allotment allows for 500 cubic meters per person in Egypt, about 50% of the water poverty index determined by the World Bank.

Sudanese officials have said the filling of the dam this year is a direct threat to Sudan’s national security.

The Ethiopian ambassador to Egypt, Markos Tekele, disagrees with that assessment.

“Our focus now is on filling and operating the dam, not about water quotas,” the ambassador said. “And Ethiopia repeatedly made clear that this day will not cause significant harm. Therefore, I don’t know why it becomes an existential threat either to Sudan or Egypt right now.”

Egypt, Sudan seek deal

Egypt and Sudan say a legally binding agreement on the filling and operating of the dam should be reached before Ethiopia starts the second phase of filling.

Ethiopia began filling the dam last year, a process that is expected to be done in stages over the next several years. Addis Ababa has said it will complete the second stage in July, with or without an agreement.

David Des Roches, an associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, described that position as a provocation.

“That is really discouraging because it is basically a sort of absolutist statement,” he said. “The Ethiopians here are saying, ‘What is in our country is ours and whatever we allow to go downstream, be happy for it.’

“Unfortunately, the Ethiopian position is one that greatly concerns Egypt, which is so dependent on the Nile, and the Egyptians can’t just grin and bear it.”

Egypt’s el-Sissi has repeatedly called on Ethiopia not to affect Egypt’s share of Nile water, saying “all options are open” and stressing that “cooperation is better than fighting.”

Compromises noted

Ethiopia’s Markos, however, said his country was cooperating and had compromised by extending the time to refill the dam from three years to five years to seven years. But he said water quotas could be discussed later.

“We did not have any such agreement on quotas in the past; therefore, we are not talking about it,” he said. “In the future we can discuss the topic that you raised.”

Allam acknowledged that Ethiopia wasn’t part of a 1959 agreement on water quotas. But he noted that in 1902, the Ethiopian king signed an agreement with Britain on behalf of Egypt and Sudan, pledging not to affect the Blue Nile’s flow.

Des Roches said Egypt was trying to bring in international powers to mediate and encourage Ethiopia to change its position. But if diplomatic efforts fail, he said, there is a risk of military conflict over the dam.

“Egypt has a very capable military, and if they are operating in conjunction with Sudan, they obviously would be able to stage raids in and out,” he said. “I think militarily you have to do aerial bombardment from Sudanese bases. It could be done without having to refuel.”

After his meetings in Cairo, Feltman held meetings in Eritrea on Thursday and Sudan on Friday. His last stop will be Ethiopia on Sunday.

Source: Voice of America