Day: November 17, 2021

Sudanese journalists are pushing back against military leaders who seized power in a coup last month, calling on them to respect press freedoms and release several editors and reporters they have detained.

The nation’s media advocacy group says it has documented instances of excessive force used against reporters and media houses since the coup.

Journalists in Khartoum organized a silent protest on Tuesday. They held banners with slogans that read, “We need free press” and “Free detained journalists.”

Amru Shaban, the secretary-general of the Sudanese Journalists Network, said the military is holding six journalists in all. Among them is Mahir Abu Jukh, the editor-in-chief of the state-owned TV and radio network.

The network gathered information on more than 10 harassment incidents since the military coup on October 25, including threatening phone calls to journalists who are working for international media, Shaban told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program.

“Authorities have also intentionally cut off internet services from journalists as part of the systematic crackdown on journalists who are supposed to document the ongoing crimes against Sudanese people,” Shaban said.

There has been no public comment from the military leadership since the coup about press freedoms or the crackdown against protesters. A pro-democracy doctors group says two protesters were killed during a demonstration Wednesday.

Security forces used ammunition and tear gas Saturday against demonstrators decrying the coup and military rule.

In the crackdown on journalists, Sudanese forces on Saturday raided the home of El Musalmi El Kabbashi, the bureau chief of Al Jazeera network in Khartoum, and detained him. He was released on Tuesday without charge.

Late last month, Sudanese security forces stormed the building of El Demokrati, an Arabic daily newspaper, and confiscated copies of the printed paper while detaining tops editors.

“The intention of the military is to cripple the media in the country and to prevent journalists from documenting crimes that are committed against the citizens,” Shaban told VOA.

Sudanese journalist Mohammed Sayeed told VOA that military harassment and a lack of internet services has curtailed his work in providing information to Sudanese citizens during this crucial time.

“It shows that the new system doesn’t value the press,” he said. “The internet is one of the basic rights for access to information. It became our pen of writing, and the government is now attacking this pen.”

A Sudanese court ruled last week that telecommunication companies must restore internet service. The services, however, remain shut down.

Hiba Ali, a reporter working for Al Sudani Arabic daily newspaper, said for that for the past month, the outlet has been unable to print because of the internet shutdown.

“It has become clear after the military takeover that press freedom and journalists have become a target,” she said. “It is the same attack that has been pursuing political activists and anybody that calls for freedoms and supports the democratic transformation in Sudan.”

Source: Voice of America

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Nigeria on Thursday as part of a three-nation trip that includes Kenya and Senegal.

Blinken is expected to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, revitalizing democracies, and security issues. Ahead of his visit, Nigerian experts weigh in on the issues and their expectations.

Blinken will meet in Abuja with Nigerian President Muhamadu Buhari and other top government officials, including the vice president and foreign affairs minister.

They will discuss cooperation on global health security, expanding energy access and economic growth, and revitalizing democracy, according to a U.S. State Department release last week.

Political analyst and co-founder of YouthHub Africa, Rotimi Olawale, describes Blinken’s visit as timely, especially as many African nations, including Nigeria, have failed to meet targets set by the World Health Organization for vaccinating the public.

“It’s an opportunity to strengthen ties with Nigeria. As the world continues to open, Africa has been lagging behind in being able to access vaccines and I hope that that would be top of the agenda as well as issues in security, and support to ensure that the shrinking civil space not only in Nigeria but across the region is also addressed,” Olawale said.

Nigeria is battling a range of security threats, including the Boko Haram insurgency, inter-communal clashes and more recently, a wave of mass abductions at schools.

The West African country has also been named among countries with shrinking civil space worsened by issues of police brutality that triggered mass protests last year, and crackdowns on free speech and the media.

While in Abuja, Blinken is expected to talk about U.S.-Africa policy, emphasizing the value of democracy.

This year alone, the continent has witnessed four successful military coups, threatening decades of progress toward democracy, says Olawale.

“There’s also democratic challenges across West Africa, actually also across the continent where in the last couple of months we have seen a number of coups in Chad, Guinea, Sudan and in several other countries, where there’s been a change to democracy. It’s important that Nigeria plays a stabilization role across the continent, that this is also top of the agenda.”

President Joe Biden took office in January aiming to bolster ties with Africa shaken by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Shortly after his inauguration, Biden signed an executive order lifting travel bans imposed by Trump on Muslim countries including Nigeria – a move that was widely praised.

Still, Nigerian security analyst Senator Iroegbu says major improvements in Africa policy under the Biden administration have been slow.

“Yes, there was an initial attempt at the beginning of the Biden administration to show that the U.S.-Africa relation will be different. A lot of policy makers in Africa are yet to understand the trajectory the Biden administration is taking when it comes to U.S.-Africa policy. A lot of it is shrouded in secrecy.”

These experts hope the Biden administration’s plans regarding Africa become much clearer by the time Blinken ends his visit.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Nigeria Thursday on the second leg of his three-nation tour of Africa to discuss security issues and other topics.

The State Department said earlier this week that Blinken and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet in Abuja to discuss collaborating on international health security, expanding energy access and security, and other issues.

Blinken opened his three-nation tour in Kenya with a warning that several factors have led to a “democratic recession” of democracy around the world.

During a meeting Wednesday in Nairobi with Raychelle Omamo, Kenya’s foreign affairs ambassador, Blinken said, “We’re seeing, and we’ve seen over the last decade or so, what some are calling the democratic recession, democracies falling back.”

Blinken also addressed with Kenyan leaders specific regional issues such as ending the violence in Ethiopia, combating terrorism in Somalia and reviving Sudan’s transition to a civilian government.

Kenya, a member of the United Nations Security Council, is an important player in issues related to regional countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia.

Blinken’s tour of Africa includes a stop in Senegal. His trip is partially aimed at raising America’s profile as a key player in the region as it competes with China.

Despite its large contributions of money and vaccines to contain COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the United States has had little success in gaining influence in the region.

Source: Voice of America

The World Food Program (WFP) on Monday handed over the newly rehabilitated Torit-Magwi road to the government of Eastern Equatoria State.

The 48-kilometer road was rehabilitated at the cost of USD 3.95 million donated by the Kingdom of Netherlands and works started in 2019.

In her remarks at the handover ceremony on Monday in Torit, WFP’s head of field office in Torit, Zeneb Habte, said the road will promote better connectivity for rural communities.

“This project is a great example of how WFP is seeking to implement the vision, thanks to the generous contribution of the Kingdom of Netherlands and the close collaboration with the Government of South Sudan,” Habte said. “The Torit-Magwi road project promotes better connectivity for rural communities.

She added: “This, in turn, benefits everyone; the disadvantaged and food-insecure households, youth and women organizations, farmers, consumers, state service providers, traders, transporters, agro-dealers, small contractors and all humanitarian actors.”

The Magwi County Commissioner, David Otto Remson, said the road now helps him easily connect with the state Headquarters as the movement has been eased and travel time reduced.

“I am so proud because I can connect to the state headquarters and it is also so cheaper,” Magwi Commissioner Otto said. “In the past, I used to take six hours from Magwi to Torit, but today I can make it in thirty minutes. Congratulations on that.”

The Eastern Equatoria State roads minister, Jildo Abala Remy, thanked WFP and the Kingdom of Netherlands and appealed for more support towards the rehabilitation of other feeder roads in the state like the Magwi-Lobone, Torit-Katire, Narus-Kuron, Riwoto-Napak, Obira-Chahari, and Romula-Lotome.

For his part, the deputy head of mission at the embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Juba, Jam Huesken, pledged to continue supporting Eastern Equatoria State in several other projects.

“We have already agreed that we have come and come back more often and try and support the government where we can in the integrated development plans which they have,” Huesken pledged. “We all know that this country has a lot of potential for agriculture production and as a family, you cannot eat everything, so you have to find a market and so these roads are so important.”

Governor Louis Lobong Lojore said the rehabilitation of the road faced several challenges otherwise it would have been launched last year.

“This road could have been launched since last year but because of many other challenges, we are launching it or opening it today,” Governor Lobong said. “This road is to connect Torit with Magwi County. We are still not able to access many areas in Eastern Equatoria due to bad roads and whether we have the plans or not, we have to start from somewhere.”

The road is part of the support from the Kingdom of Netherlands and implemented by the World Food Program to ease the movement of people and agricultural produce to markets.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) with support from UNMISS, UNESCO, and UNDP is training over 40 journalists in reporting the constitution-making and parliamentary business.

The two-day workshop that ends today Wednesday will see the accreditation of the journalists drawn from several media houses as parliamentary reporters according to UJOSS President Patrick Oyet Charles.

Speaking during the opening of the workshop in Juba on Tuesday, UJOSS President Patrick Oyet Charles said several similar pieces of training will be held for the same participants to develop their capacity in reporting parliamentary business.

“This capacity building will be continuous, it will not be a one-day thing. One of our expectations is that the same people should continue to attend this parliamentary reporting training so that their capacity is built,” Oyet said. “The same journalists from various media houses should be accredited to parliament.”

The UJOSS president advised the reporters who will be accredited to parliament to form a parliamentary reporters association and form a WhatsApp group to ease coordination of their work. Oyet also urged the journalists to register and obtain membership identity cards from the union (UJOSS) so that they can easily be helped in case they have a problem.

For his part, the UNMISS’ political affairs officer, Obiorah Ndubisi, said training journalists is one of their priorities.

“This workshop is one of our priority activities. We aim to partner with UNESCO, the ministry of parliamentary affairs, Media Authority, and UJOSS,” Ndubisi said. “The objective of this workshop is to build the capacity of journalists in reporting on the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (RTNLA).”

Ndubisi added that the media is important in increasing civic engagement in the country.

Tap Pant, UNESCO’s head of education unit called on the government of South Sudan to respect freedom of expression to create a conducive environment for journalists.

“I want to call on the government and other stakeholders to keep these important articles, 24 and 32 as stated in the constitution, as journalists play an important role towards enhancing public participation and civic engagement towards achieving development and democracy in the society,” Pant said.

The UNESCO official added that the training on parliamentary Reporting should also be rolled across the states in South Sudan.

Speaking at the same event, the UNDP representative, Andrew Suruma, said the training on constitution-making and parliamentary reporting came at the right time.

“This workshop is both timely and important because it comes within the formation of the reconstituted parliament and the advancement of the transitional phase which includes the post-conflict constitution-making process,” Suruma said.

In his presentation, the director-general of the South Sudan Media Authority, Sapana Abuyi, said journalists should be conflict-sensitive when reporting the news to create peace in South Sudan.

“Conflict-sensitive reporting should be encouraged to create a conducive environment. In this era, it is important for the media to filter all news to ensure accuracy,” Abuyi said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The community of Jiir Payam in Rumbek Central County voluntarily surrendered 38 illegal firearms to the government of Lakes State on Tuesday.

The chief of Jiir Payam of Rumbek Central, Sultan Lueth Marial Buoc, told Radio Tamazuj that the illegal arms were surrendered voluntarily by the owners to the chiefs but that effective December, there will be forceful disarmament.

“We have told them that whenever we get illegal firearms, we will bring them but when we reach 1 December and there are people who are resisting the voluntary disarmament it will be their responsibility,” Sultan Lueth warned. “We were three chiefs; Sultan Mamer, Der Makuer, and myself. Our cattle camps are not far away, they are here around Kaach.”

Information minister William Koji Kirjok acknowledged that the youth of Jiir Payam in Rumbek Central County voluntarily handed over their illegal firearms to the government in the presence of the governor on Tuesday.

“Since 4 November, the governor has been touring the counties and giving the messages of voluntary disarmament which is supposed to be peaceful and the responsibility has been given to local chiefs, executive directors, the Paramount chiefs, commissioners and Payam administrators,” Minister Koji said.

“We have finished with Rumbek Central County and we have gone to Rumbek East and we have finished with Rumbek North and there will be a joint meeting with Rumbek Central, Cueibet, and Rumbek North. And it was the same message and the deadline given for firearms disarmament is November.”

He said based on monthly reports they are getting, there is a massive collection of illegal firearms going on and that if there is any reported resistance from January 2022, those resisting will be disarmed by force.

Minister Koji said 37 AK-47 rifles and 1 PKM machinegun were handed over to the government in Rumbek Central County.

Source: Radio Tamazuj