Day: November 2, 2021

Staff at the main referral hospital in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, Bor Hospital resumed work after a one-day strike over unpaid incentives was called off on Friday.

Dr. Ajak Garang, one medical doctor who was on strike, told Radio Tamazuj: “The strike was called off on Friday evening after the state government intervention. We met the state governor and he promised that he will engage the (health) partners. Our problem is that we are not paid incentives for two months.”

On Thursday last week, all the workers at Bor State Hospital, including doctors, nurses, and cleaners, downed tools after a 72-hours ultimatum for their incentives to be paid elapsed.

John Anyieth Malaak, a nurse, said while the work resumed Friday, they will be forced to down tools again if their demands are not met by September 15.

“As we speak, the work is ongoing normally at the hospital because we want to give them time to respond. As a nurse, I receive $350. Some receive $45 like the cleaners. It varies,” he said.

For his part, Dr. Bol Chaw Manyang, the hospital’s medical director, said that health partners are being engaged so that the two-month incentives are paid by mid-November.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

More than 14,000 returnees who have settled in the five Payams of Morobo County in Central Equatoria State have received an assortment of food aid this week.

Earlier, the county officials repeatedly appealed for humanitarian assistance to the thousands of returnees trying to rebuild their lives.

Most of the returnees who fled to neighboring Uganda and DR Congo started returning to re-settle in their villages after the formation of the unity government last year.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj from Kimba Payam on Saturday, Sunday John a returnee from Uganda’s Rhino camp who received her food items said the food has put smiles on the faces of her family members.

“We received sorghum, beans, liters of cooking oil, and salt and this has greatly helped to get food for our families. We are happy after suffering for long without food after returning from the camp without anything to start life with. With this assistance, we want to thank the UN-WFP for listening to our cries by providing us food relief aid,” Sunday said.

Christopher Mambu another returnee who returned from the DRC two months ago and settled in Wudabi Payam also expressed happiness for the food assistance.

“The assistance is good because I got wheat, lentils, cooking oil, and salt. Now my children are happy and smiling and this is a good thing for us who just returned from Congo. We still appeal to WFP to supply another ratio so that we can re-start our livelihoods and get settled. We also want the people distributing the food items to continue working transparently,” he said.

Likambu Francis, the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission coordinator for Morobo County confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the food assistance targeted vulnerable returnees and IDPs in Panyume, Lujule, Kimba, Gulumbi, and Kendila Payams of Morobo County.

He said, “The general food distribution is targeting all the five Payams of Morobo County and the food items were donated by WFP-South Sudan and implemented by ACROSS which is a partner to WFP and the food distribution targeted mostly the vulnerable returnees and IDPs and it targeted 14,600 beneficiaries in all the five Payams of Morobo county.”

Likambu said the food items will help to restore hope but urges humanitarian organizations to also provide shelter, rehabilitate boreholes and renovate schools and health facilities for the growing population returning to re-settle in Morobo County.

Morobo County is one of the counties in Central Equatoria State badly affected by the 2016 political crisis.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

A cargo plane crash near Juba International Airport on Tuesday morning has left five people dead, airport officials have confirmed.

The incident occurred as the plane was taking off this morning heading to Maban County in Upper Nile State.

Kur Kuol, the director-general of Juba International Airport, told Radio Tamazuj that authorities have started investigating the incident which involved an Antonov-26 plane operated by Optimum Aviation.

“A South Sudanese who was a staff member of the airline company had drums of fuel and the other four were just crew members. Two Russians and 2 Sudanese were crew members,” Kur said.

He revealed that the cargo plane had been chartered to carry fuel and other items.

Adau James Wuor, a Human Resources Officer at Optimum Aviation, said: “Five people have been confirmed dead so far, but we are still trying to get more information to update the media.”

On its Facebook page, the South Sudan Red Cross said: “Our team is at the plane crash scene at Gondokoro, Juba. We have collected five bodies burned beyond recognition. We will hand the bodies to the authorities.”

Several planes have crashed in recent years in South Sudan.

On 2 March 2021, a Let L-410 Turbolet of South Sudan Supreme Airlines crashed in Pieri, Uror County on a domestic flight to Yuai Airstrip, South Sudan.

In August 2020, eight people lost their lives, while a single passenger survived with injuries when a cargo plane crashed into a farm in the Kemeru area minutes after it took off from the Juba International Airport.

In 2015, 36 people were killed when a Soviet-era Antonov plane crashed just after takeoff from Juba.

In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a runway in Wau before bursting into flames.

19 people were killed in 2018 when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba to Yirol crashed.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

An Antonov 26 plane belonging to Optimum Aviation has crashed on Tuesday morning after takeoff from the Juba International Airport. The plane was en route to Maban from the Juba International Airport before it crashed.

Airport authorities in Juba say they are still investigating the cause of the crash.

The Director-General for Juba International Airport Kur Kuol told Radio Tamazuj: “It is a technical problem actually in which I can not explain right now, but it is confirmed Antonov 26 belonging to Optimum Aviation, it was taking off from Juba International Airport heading to Maban. No casualties are confirmed even though the passengers were not there but crews were there.”

When contacted for an interview an official at Optimum Aviation declined to give a statement saying they are yet to establish facts as to why the plane crashed.

The official said a team of engineers has been dispatched to the scene to assess the cause of the accident. It is not clear how many crew members were on the plane at the time of the crash.

Several planes have crashed in recent years in South Sudan.

On 2 March 2021, a Let L-410 Turbolet of South Sudan Supreme Airlines crashed in Pieri, Uror County on a domestic flight to Yuai Airstrip, South Sudan.

In August 2020, eight people lost their lives, while a single passenger survived with injuries when a cargo plane crashed into a farm in the Kemeru area minutes after it took off from the Juba International Airport.

In 2015, 36 people were killed when a Soviet-era Antonov plane crashed just after takeoff from Juba.

In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a runway in Wau before bursting into flames.

19 people were killed in 2018 when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba to Yirol crashed.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in the Netherlands has unanimously rejected an appeal by former Darfur janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman (also known as Ali Kushayb), against the Pre-Trial Chamber II decision of 17 May 2021, rejecting a challenge of the court’s jurisdiction by Kushayb’s defence counsel.

In a statement from The Hague, the ICC announced that the Appeals Chamber of the ICC, composed of Judge Piotr Hofmanski, presiding in this appeal, Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, Judge Perrin de Brichambaut, Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze, decided unanimously to reject the appeal against the Pre-Trial Chamber II decision of 17 May 2021 on the Defence’s jurisdictional challenge (exception d’incompétence).

Presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski, read a summary of the Judgment in an open hearing on Monday. In rejecting the Defence’s four grounds of appeal, the Appeals Chamber highlighted, among other matters, that it found no error in the reasons given by the Pre-Trial Chamber defining a “situation” before the Court as defined in terms of temporal, territorial and in some cases personal parameters. It also found that the non-funding by the United Nations of the activities of the Court arising from a referral by the Security Council does not invalidate the UNSC resolution 1593 which referred the situation to the ICC. As for the alleged failure of the Pre-Trial Chamber to take into account the lack of the Security Council logistical and security support to the Court in Sudan, the Appeals Chamber finds that the Defence has not demonstrated how this alleged error of law relates to the jurisdiction of the Court.

Finally, and referring to the principle of legality, nullum crimen sine lege, the Appeals Chamber found that the referral of the Situation in Darfur, Sudan took place in the wake of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law that were criminalised under international law at the time.

The Appeals Chamber also found that the crimes under the Statute were intended to be generally representative of the state of customary international law when the Statute was drafted. This weighs heavily in favour of the foreseeability of facing prosecution for such crimes even in relation to conduct occurring in a State not party to the Statute. Judge Ibáñez expressed her separate views concerning this ground of appeal and while agreeing with the outcome reached by the majority, she considered that, in her view, the jurisdiction of the Court over the conduct in this case pre-dates UNSC Resolution 1593, which only triggered the Court’s jurisdiction and thus there is no need to refer to any other sources of law.

Indictment

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, Kushayb, who faces 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur, initially appeared before the ICC on June 15.He then appeared before Pre-Trial Chamber II on May 24-26 to hear submissions from the prosecution and legal representation of the victims.

Kushayb has yet to enter a plea, and his defence has thus far been based largely on insisting that his name is Abd-Al-Rahman, and that he is not the person referred to as Ali Kushayb.

The ICC issued arrest warrants against former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and Kushayb in 2007. Kushayb was transferred to the ICC’s custody on June 9, 2020 after surrendering himself voluntarily in the Central African Republic. Upon his arrest, the Sudanese government announced its support for his transfer to the ICC. Kushayb is also charged with a number of crimes by the Sudanese authorities.

Source: Radio Dabanga

At least six villagers were killed and others went missing in attacks by gunmen on villages and farms in North Darfur over the weekend. The violence reportedly increased since the military coup of October 25.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that five farmers were killed in an attack launched by gunmen riding on camels and motorcycles on six villages in Dar El Salam on Saturday.

The farmers were shot when they protested the looting of their property, he said.

The same day, a group of gunmen raided farms in Tawila locality, other sources reported. A number of farmers went missing, amid fears that they may have been kidnapped or killed by the attackers. 10 women were held by the gunmen on their farms before being released later.

On Sunday, a villager was killed on his farm in the southern part of Tawila locality.

The sources also said that fires erupted in a large number of farms near Tabit, Kezelgi, and Gallab in Tawila locality, with “a heavy presence of gunmen on the farms”.

They said that attacks have significantly increased since the military coup of October 25, and called on the international community to intervene and provide protection.

Source: Radio Dabanga