Day: November 20, 2021

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Pastoralist teachers to deliver alternative education in cattle camps

The Warrap State education ministry, with support from World Vision, has trained 11 teachers to deliver education services to cattle camps of Tonj South, Tonj North, and Gogrial West counties of Warrap state.

The five-day training which started on Monday ended on Friday week and is aimed at extending education services to cattle camp youth.

Wilson Samson Wani, the lead facilitator from the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the capacity training is part of their project to provide education for all.

“The purpose and objective of the capacity building training are to equip teachers with skills and knowledge and to deliver quality services to people in education on the move which has different approaches compared to formal education,” Wani said.

He added: “It has different policies and components and we taught those skills of scheming the work before classes and how to manage the setting of classes without classrooms.”

For his part, Kuanyin Wek Kuanyin, the Warrap State partners’ coordinator in the education ministry, urged the participants to provide education services to the pastoralists.

“We intend to train the youth and children in the cattle camps on how to shift their focus from cattle-related issues to alternative aspects of life through education and agriculture,” Wek said. “As FAO is also taking part in farming, the combination of the two will make the ministry of education achieve its goals and objective.”

He added: “I urge the teachers who have been trained here to directly deliver quality teaching to roughly 1, 075 learners in the cattle camps. 469 are female while 606 are male learners in the three counties of Tonj South, Tonj North, and Gogrial West and if these number of pupils got trained, the rate of illiteracy will reduce in Warrap State.”

The teachers said they gained skills and knowledge during the training which will help them train learners using mobile education.

Simon Arop, a Tonj North County pastoralist teacher who benefited from training said he learned to design work schemes and lesson plans.

“I learned the scheme of work and lesson plan, how to prepare properly and teach pupils in the cattle camps,” Arop said. “I also learned how to make peace among the communities. when I hear that youth are organizing fighting, I report it to stakeholders so that they can intervene and prevent it.”

A pastoralist teacher from Gogrial West County, Deng Abraham, said the positive impact of training is that it will change communities that are deprived of education.

“The scheme of work is the breaking down of lessons for pupils to understand and it is helpful because it makes teachers prepare before classes and while in the class, a teacher is not shaken when learners ask questions,” Deng said. “Another important thing is that the program itself is so beneficial to those in cattle camps who have been neglected and have no access to education. They will benefit now.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj

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Hundreds Protest in Sudan Ahead of Anti-coup Demonstrations Sunday

Hundreds of Sudanese anti-coup demonstrators rallied Saturday to denounce a deadly crackdown that doctors say has left 40 people dead since last month’s military takeover. Mass protests are planned for Sunday.

The United States and the African Union condemned the deadly crackdown on protesters and called on Sudan’s leaders to refrain from the “excessive use of force.”

Sudan’s top general Abdel-Fattah Burhan on October 25 declared a state of emergency, ousted the government and detained the civilian leadership.

The military takeover upended a two-year transition to civilian rule, drew international condemnation and punitive measures, and provoked large protests.

Demonstrations on Wednesday were the deadliest so far, with a toll of 16 killed after a teenager who had been shot died, doctors said.

The independent Sudan Doctors Committee said the 16-year-old had been shot “by live rounds to the head and the leg.”

Hundreds of protesters rallied against the military in North Khartoum, putting up barricades and setting tires on fire, an AFP correspondent said. Other protesters took to the streets in east and south Khartoum, according to witnesses.

They chanted “no, no to military rule” and called for “civilian rule.”

During the unrest in North Khartoum, a police station was set on fire, the correspondent said.

Pro-democracy activists made calls on social media for mass anti-coup protests with a “million-strong march” to take place on Sunday.

Police station ablaze

Security forces and protesters traded blame for the torching of the police station.

Police spokesman Idris Soliman accused an unidentified “group of people” of setting it on fire.

But North Khartoum’s resistance committee claimed the police were responsible.

“Police forces withdrew from the station … and after, members of the police carried out acts of sabotage,” it said in a statement.

“We accuse clearly and explicitly the military establishment for causing this chaos,” added the committee, part of the informal groups that emerged during 2018-2019 protests that ousted president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Most of those killed on Wednesday were in North Khartoum, which lies across the Nile River from the capital, doctors said.

On Saturday, Sudanese authorities said an investigation into the killings would be launched.

Dozens mourned

Dozens of protesters also rallied Saturday to mourn the latest deaths, demanding a transition to civilian rule.

Protesters also took to the streets of Khartoum’s twin-city Omdurman to denounce the killings, chanting “down with the (ruling) council of treachery and betrayal.”

Police officials deny using any live ammunition and insist they have used “minimum force” to disperse the protests. They have recorded only one death, among demonstrators in North Khartoum.

On Friday, police forces sporadically fired tear gas until late at night to disperse demonstrators who had rallied in North Khartoum, witnesses said.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions that were instrumental in the months-long demonstrations that led to Bashir’s ouster, said security forces have also “stormed homes and mosques,”

An AFP correspondent said police forces also frisked passers-by and checked identification.

‘Abuses and violations’

The U.S. and African Union denounced the deadly crackdown.

“We call for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations, including the excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, to be held accountable,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

“In advance of upcoming protests, we call on Sudanese authorities to use restraint and allow peaceful demonstrations.”

The African Union, which suspended Sudan after the coup, condemned “in the strongest terms” Wednesday’s violence.

AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat called on Sudan’s authorities “to restore constitutional order and the democratic transition” in line with a 2019 power-sharing deal between the military and the now-deposed civilian figures.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the release of reporters detained Wednesday while covering anti-coup protests, including Ali Farsab.

“Sudanese security forces’ shooting and beating of journalist Ali Farsab make a mockery of the coup government’s alleged commitment to a democratic transitional phase in the country,” said the CPJ’s Sherif Mansour.

Sudan has a long history of military coups, with rare interludes of democratic rule since independence in 1956.

Burhan insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but a step “to rectify the transition” as factional infighting and splits deepened between civilians and the military under the now-deposed government.

He has since announced a new ruling council in which he kept his position as head, along with a powerful paramilitary commander, three senior military figures, three ex-rebel leaders and one civilian.

But the other four civilian members were replaced with lesser known figures.

Source: Voice of America

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FIFA head of women’s football development inspects Juba Stadium

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) head of women’s football development on Friday inspected the Juba National Football Stadium to evaluate the progress of the construction works.

The FIFA team arrived in Juba Wednesday to make plans to launch a pilot project for women’s football in the country.

Speaking to journalists during the visit to the national stadium, Arijana Demirovic, FIFA’s head of women’s football development, said they were looking forward to the completion of construction works at the stadium so that both the men and women national teams can have a home ground.

“As part of this visit, we are also listening to the international stadiums and federation headquarters to understand the progress of the construction of the national stadium,” Demirovic said. “We are very much looking forward to seeing this stadium being finished in order to allow both the men and women national teams to compete and have a home ground. We need to understand that we are here to develop football for both boys and girls, men and women and this stadium will allow them to grow.”

She also said part of her visit includes the plan to launch a pilot project for women football in South Sudan.

“We are here this week visiting the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) for a women’s football feasibility project that we want to launch in South Sudan as a pilot project. It is a very exciting time for women’s football, particularly because we will be launching many projects here,” she added.

For her part, Nyakoang Gai, the head of women’s football in South Sudan, welcomed the delegation and said the FIFA projects will grow football in the country.

“We welcome this delegation from FIFA that is planning to launch women football projects in South Sudan,” Gai said. “These projects will help in the development of women football in South Sudan. We would like to see women’s football in South Sudan growing.”

In August, FIFA secretary general, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, while on an assessment visit to South Sudan, unveiled plans to launch several projects for football in the country.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

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Blinken Visits Senegal to Reaffirm Partnership

On the last day of a trip to Africa to bolster U.S. influence on a continent that receives much of its foreign aid from U.S. rival China, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. efforts to strengthen alliances in Africa must be evaluated on results.

The top U.S. diplomat visited Senegal Friday and Saturday on the last leg of a five-day, multi-nation trip during which he outlined the Biden administration’s policy toward Africa, declaring that the U.S. sees African countries as equal partners.

“We have to be judged on what we do and not simply on what I say and so let’s see over the coming months and coming years how we do,” Blinken said at a news conference Saturday in the Sengalese capital of Dakar.

Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall said at the news conference that U.S. influence in Africa “will always be important.” She noted the U.S. “never colonized” Africa and said the Sengalese “see the United States as a country of freedom.”

Earlier Saturday, Blinken met with Senegalese President Macky Sall at the presidential palace in Dakar. The two leaders also attended an event at Dakar’s Institut Pasteur, which hopes to begin producing COVID-19 vaccines with U.S. assistance next year.

On Friday, Blinken summarized the Biden administration’s policy toward Africa in a speech in Abuja, Nigeria.

“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.

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.

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, who witnessed the signing of contracts valued at more than $1 billion Saturday between Senegal and four U.S. companies, said the U.S. is investing in Africa without imposing unmanageable levels of debt.

“As we look at infrastructure investment, and more broadly investment across the board, our purpose, the guiding principle, is to make this a race to the top. And if other countries want to engage in that race to the top … that’s a very good thing,” Blinken said.

Blinken’s visit to Africa was his first as secretary of state. He has said 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 came 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.

On Saturday in Senegal, Blinken addressed the civil war between Ethiopian government forces and rebels in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

“Intensive diplomacy is ongoing with leadership from the African Union and its high representative, former Nigerian President Obasanjo supported by the United States,” Blinken said.

“We continue to push for an immediate end to hostilities without preconditions and humanitarian access to the millions of people who need life-saving aid,” he added.

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.

Nevertheless, Blinken said U.S. President Joe Biden would continue working 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.

Source: Voice of America

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Blinken Warns Russian Group Not to Interfere in Mali

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned a shadowy Russian company with connections to the Kremlin not to interfere in efforts aimed at restoring democracy in the West African nation of Mali.

As he wrapped up a weeklong, three-nation tour of Africa that was dominated by crises across the continent, Blinken said it would be “unfortunate” if the Wagner Group became active in Mali, where there are internationally backed plans to have a democratically elected government in place by April.

Mali “remains a linchpin for future stability in the Sahel, and we have deep concerns about that stability and deep concerns about the extremism and terrorism that is spreading tentacles in the region,” Blinken said at news conference with Senegal’s foreign minister, Aissata Tall Sall. West Africa’s Sahel region is the vast area south of the Sahara Desert where extremist groups are fighting for control.

“It would be especially unfortunate if outside actors engage in making things even more difficult and more complicated,” Blinken said. He said he was speaking particularly of the Wagner Group, which has deployed mercenaries to Syria, the Central African Republic and Libya, drawing protests from the West and others.

The Wagner Group, owned by a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been accused by Western governments and U.N. experts of human rights abuses in the Central African Republic and involvement in the conflict in Libya.

France and Germany have objected to the presence of Wagner mercenaries in Mali, and the European Union said this past week that it would consider sanctions against anyone interfering in Mali’s democratic transition.

Russia defends company

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the company has a legitimate right to be in Mali because it was invited by the transitional government, and he has insisted the Russian government is not involved.

Blinken, who has also been pressing while in Africa for an end to crises in Ethiopia and Sudan, said the United States was ready to restore aid to Mali that was suspended after a military coup.

“This is ultimately about the people of Mali and their aspirations for peace, their aspirations for development and respect for human rights,” he said. “We look forward to taking the next steps to resume the full array of assistance as soon as the democratically elected government has taken office.”

Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.

In June, Col. Assimi Goita was sworn in as president of a transitional government after carrying out his second coup in nine months. Mali faces increasing international isolation over the junta’s power grab. Elections are scheduled for February, but the EU fears they will be delayed.

Security issues

In his meetings in Senegal, Blinken addressed security issues, particularly a rise in jihadi violence across the Sahel and increasing authoritarianism that many believe is fueling extremism.

Senegal is a key partner in the fight against extremism and last year it hosted the U.S. military’s annual counterterrorism exercise, Flintlock.

One area where Foreign Minister Sall may seek U.S. help is with increased security measures along the country’s borders with Mali and Mauritania, where several counterterrorism operations have taken place in recent years.

Source: Voice of America

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Sudanese upheaval: Internet restored but social media blocked

Authorities in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday restored internet services after a shutdown was imposed nearly a month ago after a military coup.

However, social media platforms remain blocked.

The move came after a Khartoum District Court, headed by Judge Tariq Abdulatif, ruled that internet access be immediately restored, with compensation being paid to those affected.

On Thursday, the judiciary ordered the detention of the directors of telecommunications companies and placed them under guard.

Some citizens in Khartoum told Radio Tamazuj that they endured losses since the internet services were shut down on 25 October following the military takeover.

Sudanese political activist, Asrar Kabeer, said the internet outage has caused losses, as it is associated with many businesses that constitute a source of livelihood for many citizens.

“The internet has been restored but in most cases, the signal is so weak with restrictions on social media accounts,” Kabeer said.

Osman Ali, who works as a taxi driver in Khartoum, said during the internet shutdown, many customers could no longer request a ride.

“We lost a lot, especially those of us who depend on taxi applications such as Tirhal,” Alid lamented.

He said many families were unable to communicate with their loved ones outside the country.

Mohammed Abdallah stated that internet service is a constitutional right and not a gift from anyone and that restoring the service is necessary because the service is linked to the lives of citizens.

South Sudanese citizen, Moses Sebit who resides in Khartoum, expressed happiness with the partial return of the internet and considered it a good step, and said that the Internet is akin to life in the twenty-first century.

“I hope the internet will be restored in its full capacity so that people can be updated about what is going on in the country,” Sebit said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj