Month: October 2021

Seasonal flooding in Sudan and South Sudan has devastated whole communities, where homes have been destroyed and farmland and livelihoods are washed away, the United Nations says.

The rains came early this year, beginning in South Sudan in late April instead of June. The buildup of massive amounts of rainwater has caused the Nile and Lol rivers and Sudd marshlands to overflow and flood large swathes of territory.

Jonglei, Unity, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile are the worst affected states. The U.N. says nearly half a million people are suffering because of the floods.

Jens Laerke, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman, says aid agencies are doing their best to provide emergency relief.

“Access is a major challenge though, with most of the flood-affected areas inaccessible by road, and the transport of aid by air is very costly.… Some of the flood-affected counties are also affected by ongoing violence, which creates significant challenges for the people affected and the humanitarians who try to respond to their needs,” he said.

Laerke said aid agencies have delivered food, water purification tablets, plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, mosquito nets and medical and other supplies, but resources are limited and must be replenished.

Lack of money is hampering the operation, he said, with only 61% of this year’s U.N. $1.7-billion South Sudan appeal met.

Laerke said a similar funding problem in Sudan is preventing emergency aid from being delivered to more than 314,000 flood victims. He said heavy rains have been wreaking havoc in 14 of Sudan’s 18 states since July.

“Flooding has destroyed or damaged more than 62,000 houses and displaced over 100,000 people. Bridges have collapsed and farmland has been inundated. Some 183,000 people have been reached with various kinds of assistance. However, relief stocks also here in Sudan urgently need to be replenished to maintain the response,” he said.

Laerke said hundreds of thousands of Sudanese will be deprived of essential supplies and services for the rest of this year without more outside support, and that the U.N.’s $1.9-billion Sudan appeal is only 29% funded.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir’s birth place and training centers for the unified forces in Warrap state are flooded due to the heavy downpour and overflow of the river in the area.

PNG – 26.3 kb

The map of Warrap state in red

This has resulted in to the suspension of trainings in camps and displacement of people from homes.

The minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management said Kiir’s residence in Warrap state was hit by heavy downpour and the water continue to occupy the house, causing displacement of people and animal residing in the property of the first family.

“The issue of floods is becoming a national issue. We are getting reports from all the corners of the country and the reports we are getting now shows that more than half of the country is submerged by water even the house of his excellency the president of the republic at his home village has been taken over by water which continue to occupy it”, said Peter Mayen Majongdit.

The water, according to the minister, has displaced people and animals.

South Sudan’s information minister Michael Makuei also told reporters on Thursday that the training camps of the unified forces in Upper Nile state have been submerged by water and have asked the deputy minister of defense to rescue the situation and find a new place where the training centers will be relocated in the area so that training activities are not interrupted. Makuei said soldiers in the training centers have moved to places on higher ground as authorities are trying to find place for them.

The South Sudanese leader told a woman caucus of his ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) last week that his home village had been taken by water resulting from the continued heavy rainfall the country has been experiencing.

“Now this year it has rained heavily, and floods have destroyed the whole country even the place where I was born is now in the water. All of us here let us think of how to come out of this crisis. Let’s leave the fighting and leave anything and let us work together so that we get out of the crisis we face,” said Kiir.

Kiir said it was time to stop fighting and begin to pay attention to things that were affecting people in the country

“If we can bring our brothers, we will talk like the sitting here today not that there will be fighting and it is because of conflict that our country remained undeveloped,” he added. He urged the women to work towards designing a strategy.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Thousands of Sudanese took to the street on Thursday to express their support for the civilian-led transition in the country two years after a popular revolution.

The rally came days after a failed attempt by the Islamist military and bickering between Abdel Fatah al-Burhan and his deputy from one side and Mohamed al-Faki a member of the Sovereign Council and head of the Empowerment Removal Committee from the other side.

The demonstrators chanted slogans calling for the civil state and supported the rotation of the Sovereign Council presidency to civilians.

“No guardianship over the people” or “Power to the people.”

These slogans were also a response to al-Burhan statements that they are the guardians of the transition in Sudan.

The participants in the rally arrived from Madani in central Sudan. Another train transporting people from Atbara had been delayed twice due to unexplained rail sabotage.

The Sudanese Communist Party which in principle calls to bring down Hamdok’s government also called its supporters to take part in the demonstrations.

The marches coming from different directions converged to the headquarters of the Empowerment Removal Committee which is now perceived as the bastion of the pro-democracy forces.

The police fired tear gas to disperse the rally when a group of demonstrators threw stones at the police forces tasked with the protection of the demonstration.

The huge popular mobilisation in support of the transition was seen as positive think encouraging the civilian forces after a wave of criticism for the performances of the Hamdok government.

Recently, the military component openly spoke about the failure of the civilian-led government to achieve the needed economic reforms and described them as power mongers who do not care about the hardship of people.

on 24 September, al-Faki said that the civilians should take the chairmanship of the Sovereign Council from the military in November, adding that some members of the collegial presidency asked for a legal position before to determine that the date of the rotation.

Source: Sudan Tribune

A South Sudanese presidential adviser and ambassadors from European countries union met and held talks over peace implementation process.

Costello Garang Riiny Lual, an adviser to the presidency said he has started receiving and holding meetings with foreign ambassadors and different stakeholders to begin to discuss and solicit views about how key members of the international.

“I started, as advisor to the presidency, the first diplomatic activities of my office in Juba. I had fruitful meetings with ambassadors to discuss about implementation of the peace and progresses which have been made,” Lual said in statement from his office.

He added, “We also touched bases on development issues, particularly things relating to health, humanitarian support, education and physical infrastructure”.

Lual is the chairman of South Sudan patriotic movement, one of the umbrella group of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) participating in the coalition government.

The presidential advisor’s deputy represents SSOA in the government as one of the five vice presidents stipulated in the 2018 revitalized agreement which provides for creation of advisory positions to be filled by representatives of the parties. His group got one slot, and another was filled by a faction of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition under the leadership of the first vice president Riek Machar.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Sudanese Prime Minister on Thursday announced the establishment of the awaited mechanism to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Juba peace agreement.

Abdallah Hamdok made the announcement during a High-Level Side Event on Sudan convened on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly by the United Nations and Norway attended by 24 countries and 8 international and regional organisations.

“We agreed on establishing this independent monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will help us to monitor the implementation of the peace process,” Hamdok told the meeting via a conference call from Khartoum.

In addition to the government and the signatory groups, the key strategic coordination mechanism includes the Troika countries (Britain, Norway and the U.S.), Chad, South Sudan.

The Troika countries last June signed the Juba Peace Agreement as guarantor.

Speaking at the meeting, Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide welcomed the establishment of the mechanism.

“This will be a useful instrument to find workable solutions to address outstanding issues and find workable solutions to issues that arise as peace agreements are implemented,” she stressed.

For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored that the driving objective of this meeting is to affirm global engagement and support for the Sudanese people.

Guterres said that the Juba Peace Agreement “paves the way for ending Sudan’s long-standing and devastating conflicts”.

He added that important work is underway to implement the Agreement and to reach a deal with non-signatory armed movements.

Different speakers called on the SPLM-N al-Hilu and SLM of Abdel Wahid al-Nur to join the national efforts to achieve peace and implement the national agenda for democratic transition.

In the same trend, the French Special Envoy for Sudan Jean-Michel Dumont called for the resumption of the peace process and the need for a continued international mobilisation to support transition in Sudan.

Hamdok said the talks with the SPLM-N al-Hilu would resume soon and that “serious contacts” are underway with the holdout group without further details.

Source: Sudan Tribune