Day: November 19, 2021

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New Law in Kenya Allows Refugees to Work

NAIROBI, KENYA —

This week, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a new law that will give a half-million refugees in the country an opportunity to earn a living, instead of depending on the aid agencies that assisted them for three decades.

Victor Odero is a policy and advocacy adviser at the International Rescue Committee. He says the law will help aid agencies to focus more on creating opportunities that can improve the lives of the refugees.

“What stands out for me, and I suppose for humanitarian and also development and private sector actors, is that for the first time we see in legislation provisions that allow refugees to become self-reliant, which is very important because over the last couple of decades refugees have been wholly reliant on humanitarian assistance. I think this bill presents an opportunity for us to shift from this and to focus, to enable and empower refugees to become self-reliant,” he expressed.

The refugee bill allows refugees to get education, jobs and integrate into Kenyan society.

Siad Tawane came to the Dadaab refugee camp as a toddler. He is a university graduate. The 34-year-old tells VOA the law can help him and other professionals in the camp to work in other parts of the country to sustain their lives.

“We are very much hopeful that refugees will get access to several opportunities such as work permits because that has been one of the things that we have been asking ourselves; Why the government of Kenya is not giving us the work permit for refugees to work elsewhere, not only in the camps? Some of us are educated, some of us have some skills and if they get the opportunity to move to form the camps and to move to other parts of Kenya. We are very hopeful we can deliver very many things, and we can earn a living.”

Kenya hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. Most of the refugees live in two big camps – Dadaab, which borders Somalia, and Kakuma, which borders South Sudan.

The Kenyan government has said it will close the camps next year.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says it has not been able to provide a full food ration to refugees since 2018, and last month it was forced to cut rations another 20 percent.

Twenty-seven-year-old Aza Nsabimana lives in the Kakuma refugee camp. She says getting employment and other opportunities can help her overcome the food shortage experienced in the camps.

“Here in the camp, our needs are too much. There are those who are jobless, and the food we are given in the camp is not enough for two months. And if you are jobless, life becomes hard for you. If they can get those opportunities to work for themselves, it can help so much.”

In September, the WFP said it needs $40 million to feed refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma camps for six months.

The aid agencies in Kenya have argued refugees can contribute a lot to Kenya’s economy and social fabric if given opportunities instead of remaining in the camps.

Source: Voice of America

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Over 300 blind people operated in Tonj South

A faith-based organization, Indeed Truth Church, in collaboration with doctors from Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, organized a week-long ophthalmologic surgery camp to correct blindness in Tonj South County, Warrap State.

The Warrap State health minister, Abak Yel Madoot, revealed that the church-based hospital in Tonj South County operated over 300 patients from across the Bahr el Ghazal region who were suffering from various degrees of blindness.

“The government of Warrap state is thankful to Indeed and Truth church for supporting communities and restoring the sight of vulnerable people,” Minister Yel said. “They started last Sunday and will continue till next Sunday. They operated seventy people and they were excited to be able to see each other.”

The field director of Indeed Truth Church, Peter Dut, said the team of ophthalmologists came from the United States and Kenya for the fifth round of operations in Tonj South and have about 400 people as of Thursday.

“We have the team of opticians headed by Samaritan’s Purse and they came from USA and Kenya to operate our people with sight problems,” Dut said. “The doctors started their work on Sunday and operated 70 people that day. Today (Thursday) the number of people operated for these five days is over 300 and they still operating.”

He added: “We have people with eye problems who came from neighboring states like Aweil, Wau, Rumbek, and the majority are from Warrap here. They are happy and celebrate every day because they can see again.”

One elderly woman made people laugh when she saw her grandchildren for the first time and said, “Is this how you look like my children? I just hear your names but I do not know you physically.”

Awien Agak Bent, the beaming mother of a 5-year-old child who was successfully operated on and could now see said, “these church people have helped my child, he was born blind and today my child managed to walk alone while avoiding stones and trees.”

She said the medical camp had helped her child and a lot of other people who have had their vision restored.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

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Two killed in Akobo revenge attack

Local authorities in Akobo County of Jonglei State said two people were killed in a revenge attack on Tuesday.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Gatwec Reat, the county commissioner, said the dead were waylaid and killed by a man avenging his brother who was killed a few years ago.

“The killer is someone who suspected that his brother was killed by somebody from Chiengbur six years ago,” Commissioner Reat explained, “So, the killer who is from Chienglongor, laid an ambush near one of the deceased’s house, killing two young men who were on their way home in the outskirts of the town on Tuesday evening.”

He said the suspected murderer escaped unhurt and that efforts are ongoing to reconcile the rival clans.

For his part, Joseph Mayen Akoon, the state police commissioner, said calm has returned to the area after the incident and that investigation are ongoing.

The state human rights advisor, Simon Manyok Deng, decried the cyclic revenge killings as a violation of human rights to live and called on the youth to seek peaceful redress.

“As a human rights official, killing somebody because they are related to somebody else thought to have committed an offense is not good,” Manyok said. “It amounts to a human rights violation. My message is that those involved in such practices should instead allow the law to take its course. I call on security forces to protect people in all the areas.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj

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Blinken: US Sees African Countries as Equal Partners

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the United States sees African countries as equal partners as it seeks to bolster its influence on a continent that receives much of its foreign aid from U.S. rival China.

“The United States firmly believes that it’s time to stop treating Africa as a subject of geopolitics — and start treating it as the major geopolitical player it has become,” Blinken said in Abuja, Nigeria, outlining the Biden administration’s policy toward Africa.

The continent needs billions of dollars annually for massive infrastructure projects such as building roads, railways and dams. Over the past decade, China has provided much of the infrastructure funding Africa has received.

‘We do things differently’

Without mentioning China, Blinken vowed the U.S. would agree only to transparent and voluntary global infrastructure agreements that produce tangible benefits on the continent.

“Too often, international infrastructure deals are opaque, coercive; they burden countries with unmanageable debt; they’re environmentally destructive; they don’t always benefit the people who actually live there,” Blinken said. “We will do things differently.”

Blinken is nearing the end of a five-day, multination visit to Africa, his first as secretary of state. He said Friday his trip is aimed at fostering cooperation on global health security, battling the climate crisis, expanding energy access and economic growth, revitalizing democracy and achieving peace and security.

The trip is part of the Biden administration’s effort to strengthen alliances in Africa after four years of a unilateralist approach under former U.S. President Donald Trump. It comes amid worsening crises in Ethiopia and Sudan. While in Kenya, Blinken called for ending the violence in Ethiopia, combating terrorism in Somalia and reviving Sudan’s transition to a civilian government.

Despite large contributions of money and vaccines to contain COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the U.S. has had little success in gaining influence on the continent.

Improved relations the goal

Nevertheless, Blinken said U.S. President Joe Biden would continue to work to improve relations with African countries.

“As a sign of our commitment to our partnerships across the continent, President Biden intends to host the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit to drive the kind of high-level diplomacy and engagement that can transform relationships and make effective cooperation possible,” Blinken said.

The top U.S. diplomat did not say when the summit would take place.

Hours after his speech in Nigeria, Blinken arrived in Senegal, the last stop on his trip to Africa that also took him to Kenya. Blinken will meet in Dakar with Senegalese President Macky Sall “to reaffirm the close partnership between our two countries,” the U.S. State Department said earlier this week.

Source: Voice of America

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E. Equatoria: Newly appointed MP declines nomination on SPLM-IO ticket

A newly appointed member of parliament in the Eastern Equatoria State legislative assembly has rejected his nomination to the house on the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) ticket.

On Wednesday, President Salva Kiir reconstituted four more state legislatures and appointed members from the parties that signed the revitalized peace agreement as state legislators.

In several presidential decrees read on the state broadcaster on Wednesday, President Kiir reconstituted Eastern Equatoria, Warrap, Jonglei, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal state assemblies.

Carl Peter Takan Lolib who was listed to represent Kapoeta East County on the SPLM-IO ticket says he cannot accept the appointment because he is a committed member of President Kiir’s SPLM party and that he was not consulted.

“Regarding the appointment, I am not satisfied simply because it is also a surprise. I heard my name in the announcement as member of parliament in Eastern Equatoria on the ticket of SPLM-IO,” Takan explained. “So, that gave me a surprise because I am not for SPLM-IO, I am for SPLM. Secondly, I did not participate in any nomination or consultation to be part of the legislative assembly in Eastern Equatoria.”

He said his appointment was wrong and might have been made in error.

“I am now trying to communicate that information to the world, the people of South Sudan and Eastern Equatoria that the appointment is wrongly placed. Maybe the name was typed wrongly,” Takan said. “The people of SPLM-IO should know that they have appointed a wrong person and even to the people of Eastern Equatoria, that the person that was announced in the SPLM-IO ticket was not the intended person.”

On the way forward, Takan said he was not going to assume the parliamentary seat as he did not belong to the party which nominated him

“I am not for that, it is a different party that has called my name to be in that position and I did not know whether my name is there,” Takan emphasized. “So, I have no message to tell my community regarding the position. For other community activities, I will have communication but not this appointment.”

President Kiir had recently reconstituted four state legislative assemblies in Upper Nile, Lakes, Western, and Central Equatoria states with only Western Bahr el Ghazal and Unity states not yet reconstituted.

According to the revitalized peace deal, the responsibility sharing ratio at state and local government levels shall be 55% for the SPLM; 27% for the SPLM/A-IO; 10% for SSOA, and 8% for OPP.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

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Gawar Nuer, Murle community hold peace dialogue

Representatives of the Gawar Nuer in Jonglei State and their Murle counterparts from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) on Wednesday concluded a 3-day peace dialogue in which the two sides agreed to end conflict and embrace peace.

The grass-roots peace event was held in Jonglei State’s Ayod town.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, James Chuol Jiek, the Ayod County commissioner, said: “There has been cyclic cattle raids involving youth from both sides. So, as part of forging peace, from 15-17 November, we received 7 youths, women representatives, and traditional chiefs from the Murle community.”

The local official said the two sides agreed to end violence, reconcile and recommit to the resolutions of the Pieri peace conference which they signed in March.

Nyany Korok, the deputy GPAA human rights commissioner, said: “Our representatives are still in Ayod. The purpose of this dialogue is that we want to be in peace with the Gawar Nuer although we do not share any boundary with them. As soon as they finish talks there, a similar event will also be held in Pibor to build trust.”

For his part, John Abulla, the GPAA deputy chief administrator, said he hoped the recurring peace events among the local communities in Greater Jonglei will restore peace to the restive areas and called on all the youth to desist from violence, emphasizing that youth are the key to the country’s development.

Source: Radio Tamazuj