Day: August 20, 2021

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok met in Juba on Thursday with South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his first deputy Riek Machar to discuss the stalled implementation of the security arrangements.

In a statement released in Khartoum, the official Sudan News Agency said that Hamdok who is also the IGAD Chair held a closed-door meeting with President Kiir to discuss the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement before another meeting with his accompanying delegation on bilateral ties.

In addition, he discussed the implementation of the IGAD brokered peace pact with First Vice-President Machar.

In accordance with the revitalized peace agreement of September 2018, the government and the opposition agreed in a workshop on the transitional security arrangements held in Khartoum that the unified national army would be formed in equal numbers: 50% by the government and 50% by the other signatory groups.

But the ongoing talks in Juba are deadlocked because the delegation representing President Kiir proposed to form the new army with 60% of its forces and the rest for the former opposition groups, pointing to the many defections in the ranks of other signatory groups.

The recent split of an SPLA-IO faction led by Gen Simon Gatwech Dual followed by fighting with the main SPLA-IO headed by Machar near the Sudanese border has been a source of concern for the Sudanese government.

This development also raised tensions between the two main peace partners in Juba. The SPLM-Io accused the Kiir faction of encouraging splits to renegotiate the quotas of the unified national army, while the main SPLM accused the SPLA-IO factions of violating the ceasefire agreement.

The media office of the South Sudanese President said Kiir called on the IGAD to press “the SPLM-IO to resolve their differences peacefully, stressing that South Sudan cannot afford another confrontation”.

Furthermore, he requested Hamdok to “urge the holdout groups to respect the cessation of hostilities as a matter of urgency,” said the presidency in Juba.

On August 17, President Kiir accused the South Sudan Movements Opposition Alliance (SSOMA) of killing civilians on the Juba-Nimule road. The non-signatory groups strongly denied the “fallacious claims” and accused the government army, SSPDF, of the armed robberies.

The visiting prime minister and his interlocutors discussed bilateral relations.

“South Sudan is the second home of the Sudanese,” Hamdok told President Salva Kiir and his first deputy according to SUNA.

Hamdok delegation included his defence, foreign affairs, trade and transport as well as his political adviser who travelled to Juba before him to prepare the visit.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The Chief of Defense Forces in South Sudan has called for unity in command, saying it was time to unite and coordinate efforts to restore the country’s security.

General Santino Deng Wol, who was speaking to troops on Tuesday in Juba directed military officers to see themselves as colleagues with primary objectives to protect lives and properties of the people while defending territorial integrity of the nation.

Wol told troops of the upcoming reorganization of the armed forces stipulated in the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, pointing to a necessity to have unified command with view of reorganizing and restricting the army into a professional army.

The revitalized peace agreement envisioned a unified command drawn from forces loyal to president Salva Kiir, those under the command of his first deputy in the coalition government and those from the umbrella alliance of South Sudan Opposition. All the troops, once unified and deployed will be under the overall command and directive control and authority of one of commander in chief.

This new structure will once unified will abolish parallel command currently the feature of the existing armed groups.

The statement of army chief of defense forces following a statement in which President Salva Kiir had urged his first deputy Riek Machar and vice president for service cluster and those other armed groups participating in the coalition government their nomination and submit the names of those they would wish to participate in the unified command so that the process to expedite the unification of the command of all forces.

Wol told troops to consider themselves equal to others and that nobody was better the other. He urged military to therefore embrace spirit of cooperation and coordination

“No one is better than the other…put that in your mind, said Wol. “The task you are going to do requires cooperation among each other. This is what I want to tell you, and I hope it is clear.”

The mission of the security forces, according to him is to serve the country until such time they retire and give way to others to pick up from where they stopped.

“We want to serve this country until when our time is up so that the next generation of the military will come and take over. We will go and take a rest,” stressed Wol.

He added, “You have to cooperate with one another, you are the commanders, starting from the army, the police, the prisons, and the national security. Our work is one, each unit has its mission.”

Source: Sudan Tribune

Sudan is to start consultations on the preparations for the first free general elections after the collapse of the former regime in April 2019.

Mohamed al-Faki (ST photo)”The Sovereign Council tasked some of its members to launch discussions on the formation of the Electoral and the Constitution-Making Commissions,” Mohamed al-Faki, a member and spokesman of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan stated on Thursday.

The constitutional document, which governs the transitional period, provides that the electoral and the constitution-making bodies should begin well before the elections.

Al-Faki stressed that preparing for the elections requires serious discussions on how to define constituencies, statistics and the preparation of the civil registry.

He called on the political forces to take part in the discussions on the establishment of the electoral and the constitution-making commissions. Also, he called to hold workshops on the upcoming elections.

Earlier this month, cabinet affairs minister Khalid Omer Youssif said the elections could be held in January 2024. However, the ruling coalition Forces for Freedom and Change (FCC) did not yet set a date officially.

The FFC says they want to bring the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu first to join the transitional process.

Some political groups that are not part of the FFC call for early elections saying the transitional government failed to achieve the revolution’s goals.

However, others such as the Communist Party reject the ideal saying not elections should be held before the adoption of a new constitution.

It is worth noting that the political forces in Sudan had agreed that peace and the new constitution should be achieved before the general elections to avoid the failure of the third transition as was the case in 1964 and 1985.

Source: Sudan Tribune

A community in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State have accused President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar of failing the country.

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President Kiir shakes hands with his FVP Macahr in a recent meeting at the presidency (SSPPU photo)

The Azande community leaders, in an August 16 statement, accused the country’s leader of marginalization as well as denying citizens their fundamental human rights.

The statement bears names of 33 leaders from all the six counties of Yambio, Nagero, Tambura, Ezo, Ibba, Nzara and Maridi which are inhabited the Azande people.

“Given the way in which the regime of Salva Kiir has undermined the Azande people, we the Azande have decided to join the People’s Coalition for Civil Action in calling Kiir’s regime for a peaceful South Sudan. The Azande people support a regime that will create unity, foster peace, and treat people equally. We the Azande people are democratic, and this regime has failed to respect the choice of the leaders or give the Azande a chance to choose their leaders for appointment”, partly reads the statement.

It added, “For these reasons, we the Azande people for progress call upon the Azande people of the republic of South Sudan all over the world to support People’s Coalition for Civil Action in its call for peaceful transition of power to a new administration which will provide security to its citizens, enforce democratic values, and move our country forward with one national identity and not 64 tribal identities and which will foster peace and development”.

The community accused the government of neglecting people in their quest for self-reliance by failing to invest in physical infrastructure that would allow access and connect local farmers and areas to markets in the country and in the region.

“Mindful that Western Equatoria was the food basket for Southern Sudan during liberation struggle, and remain so today, and regardless of this important role, the regime chose to import food items from Uganda rather than improving road networks to western Equatoria so that our farmers can be connected to markets in Juba and across the country,” further stressed the statement.

It accused the government of abandoning people to defend themselves from marauding activities of different rebels operating in the area from Uganda, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.

The Azande community specifically identified Uganda’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA), Central Africa’s Seleka and the Sudanese nomads from Darfur region as some of the groups with intention to extend territorial control through encroachment and filtration yet the government remained unresponsive to provocations and to annihilate.

Source: Sudan Tribune