Day: September 3, 2021

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VP Nyandeng to lead South Sudanese delegation to UN

South Sudan has dispatched Vice President Rebecca de Mabior to lead a government delegation to the annual summit of the United Nations.

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Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior (ST File Photo)

Presidential Affairs minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that Nyandeng was picked by president Salva Kiir to lead a delegation to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.

Rebeca serves in the coalition government as the representative of the former detainees, a group of current and former cabinet ministers who were detained in 2013 after participating in a press conference at which they highlighted issues they felt were behind political, security and economic stagnation and diversion from the vision of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The leaders warned insistence on preserving the status quo would send the country into abyss.

Rebeca depicts herself as the voice of change and pushed for reforms while in opposition. She is also advocating for women rights but the government in which she serves is reluctant to commit to key provisions of the 2018 revitalized agreement, especially a section of the agreement advocating adequate representation and placing women in key decision-making institutions and mechanisms.

The reforms which she advocates are not being fast tracked and observers are keen to hear what she will go and tell global leaders at the annual summit of the United Nations.

Lack of the implementation of these key provisions in the agreement and the inability by the government and parties to resolve differences has been a source of frustration behind mass mobilization by leaders of nascent opposition movement, organized by an amorphous group of young activists operating mainly online, now faces its biggest test: whether it can sustain protests in the face of a brutal government crackdown.

A movement that is diffused and poorly organized, operates underground and mostly in exile, is evolving into one led by activists inside the country.

Nyandeng now faces a challenge of having to decide whether to defend the government or brave it to tell the truth behind causes delaying full implementation of the agreement and whether elections will be conducted as stipulated in the peace agreement.

Source: Sudan Tribune

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Sudan to form anti corruption body soon: minister

The Sudanese Minister of Justice Nasr al-Din Abdelbari disclosed on Thursday that the Anti-Corruption Commission will be formed take place in the near future.

Abdebari discussed ways for joint cooperation on anti-corruption with IFC Country Manager Horn of Africa Cheick-Oumar Sylla, World Bank Country Manager for Sudan Milena Stefanova and Maisoun Badawi Private Sector Development Coordinator at the World Bank office in Khartoum.

He affirmed that his ministry would continue to provide the needed assistance to the Sudanese financial and economic institutions to achieve legal reforms for comprehensive economic development.

“The Minister of Justice further said that the Ministry of Justice shows great interest in fighting corruption. In this regard, he pointed to the approval of the Anti-Corruption Commission law, which will be formed soon,” said the ministry in a statement after the meeting.

Last April, the transitional authority approved the Anti-Corruption National Commission Law which is a separate body from the Empowerment Removal Committee tasked with dismantling the former regime.

The Sudanese minister also thanked the international financial institutions for their support for the transitional government to reform the financial and economic institutions in Sudan and prepare it to deal with the international institutions.

Source: Sudan Tribune

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Security agents hunt activists after failed protest, extort money

Security personnel in South Sudan are hunting for members of the civil society leaders behind mobilizing for a failed mass protest amid reports of extortions for money, causing public outcry and condemnation against repressive acts and exploitations.

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Southern Sudanese police in a convoy on the streets of Juba (UN photo)

Several leaders of the civil society organizations told Sudan Tribune on Thursday they are being hunted for mobilizing for a failed protest and some of their colleagues were forced to pay money in exchange for release if they do not want to disclose their locations of hiding.

“It is quite unfortunate and sad to say that the country which claimed lives of millions of our people fighting for dignity, human rights, equality, justice and freedom has gone to the dogs who are not only willing to destroy but ready to tear it and leave it in ashes. The elements of state are no more”, an activist explained.

The activist, who preferred anonymity for fear of reprisal, said security forces masking as legislators and sometimes present themselves as student leaders are hunting them since Tuesday.

“In some cases, they come as leaders of the student unions. In others, they come as members of parliament and when they feel these strategies are detected and are told the person they are looking for is not available, they get agitated and turn violence and started forcing people into cars they use. Once in the car, they drive around the town with you blindfolded because they want people not to know where they are taking them,” explained the activist.

He added, “They will tell you they will go away if you just pay them. And when you pay them, they will just demand more. And so on, and so on. When you get fed up and stop paying, they will call a wife or someone you know, perhaps a boss asking them to pay”.

The activist named James David Kolok, Wani Michael, some journalists and politicians as being among the civil society leaders being hunted by operatives.

Opponents argued President Salva Kiir has not delivered on his promises to increase public freedoms and improve his government’s human rights record since getting into the helm of leadership. While his supporters have always painted different image of himself as unifying figure, competitors depict him as oscillating between “a dictator and preserving status quo”.

And observers are keen to underline that whether Kiir wanted to be a democrat but was hampered by an entrenched old guard or has been just another ruler unwilling to listen to criticism, the outcome for the people is the same: no freedom, no rights.

They cite his inability to curb rampant insecurity, recurring communal violence, lack of political space, freedom of speech and the right to freely assemble and associate as well as lack of strong political will to build strong institutions to restrain security agencies who detain people without arrest warrants and torture with complete impunity.

Source: Sudan Tribune