Day: January 19, 2022

Sudan and South Sudan have resumed talks on a railway line linking the two countries, amid hopes the initiative would accelerate the delivery of goods and facilitate the movement of people.

South Sudan’s advisor on presidential affairs, Costello Garang Lual said discussion were with different institutions and top government officials in neighbouring Sudan to fast track the railway transport issue.

The official, who is currently in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, said he met the chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who was positive about re-opening of the railway link.

“This project is very important to the two countries, South Sudan and Sudan, and even during the civil war our people were not basing their travels on passports because if they want to travel to Daien or Borum they go without any arrangement”, Lual told reporters in Khartoum.

According to the presidential advisor, several senior government officials welcomed talks between the two nations aimed at reopening the railway for trade and movement into the Bahr el Ghazal region.

In December last year, a delegation from Al-Basim Railway company in Sudan visited Western Bahr el Ghazal State to assess and commence rehabilitation works on the railway linking the two nations.

The company’s visit a followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the government in Juba on the resumption of railway transport.

Lual said the two countries are seeking to revive the railway line linking the areas Babanosa and Wau to boost trade and business in neighboring states.

“I have been assigned to re-open the transportation between South Sudan and Sudan and also the business”, he stressed.

Railway transport ceased operation during Sudan’s civil war in 1991, but briefly commence when it was re-opened by Sudan’s ex-President Omar Al Bashir in March 2010. The railway was closed following South Sudan’s secession from Sudan in 2011.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s former finance minister, Arthur Akuien Chol on Tuesday survived a nasty car accident in which two people died.

Chol, a member of the Council of States, was heading home from Aweil town when the car he was traveling in with his family members was hit from behind.

Two of aides to the former Finance minister instantly died, while his wife, the driver of the car and two other occupants, were critically injured.

Chol, in an interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, said he sustained cuts from glasses, confirming his wife remains in a critical condition.

“I’m fine. It is just a cut by glass. My situation will improve. It is my wife in a condition requiring immediate attention, but I hope everything will be okay,” he added.

The former minister was on his way to attend the burial of a relative.

“I came on Sunday from Juba to attend the burial of one of my relatives who died outside and was brought home for burial. So, I was traveling to the village when this incident struck,” he added.

The accident, police authorities told Sudan Tribune, occurred at Panadot-Kuom, adding that investigations into the cause of the accident in ongoing.

Chol served as Finance minister prior to South Sudan’s cessation from Sudan in 2011.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Sudanese closed most of the main roads and streets in the three cities of Khartoum to protest the deadly violence against the demonstrators on Monday, while al-Burhan ordered an investigation into the killing of seven protesters.

Seven Sudanese youth were shot dead and about 100 others were injured by the security forces deployed by the military rulers to disperse peaceful protests against the coup d’état of October 25.

In support of the resistance committees, the political and civil society groups of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) called for civilian disobedience on January 18 and 19 to protest the excessive use of violence by the coup leaders.

The FFC call met with relative success, as government institutions and public schools opened as usual in the morning, while banks and shops and private companies remained closed.

By noontime on Tuesday, dozens of people angry at the violence of the security forces established barricades blocking main and subsidiary streets in the three Khartoum cities and burned tires paralyzing the capital.

The blockade continued in the evening.

The authorities at midnight deployed troops to dismantle the barricades and clean up streets from stones.

On Tuesday, the Sudanese Communist Party condemned the bloody repression of protesters Monday.

The left party, which is not part of the FFC coalition, further called for a broad coalition to bring down the putschists and establish a civilian state.

For his part, the coup leader and head of the Sovereign Council ordered to form an investigation committee into the death of the seven protesters.

The decree says that the inquiry committee should include the regular forces and the public prosecution.

Also, it should submit its findings within 72 hours.

Al-Burhan had already formed such committees to investigate the rape and killing of protesters but the results of the inquiry were not released.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Civilians in South Sudan continue experiencing displacement and suffer from widespread human rights abuses and international crimes, including conflict-based ethnic, political, sexual and gender-based violence, a human rights entity said.

African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), in its May-August 2021 report, said human rights violations and international crimes have occurred since the start of the conflict in South Sudan.

Local monitors, during this reporting period, reportedly covered incidents from the Juba, Torit and Yei in Equatoria region, Rumbek, Tonj in Western Bahr el Ghazal region and Bor in Jonglei State.

At least 98 human rights abuses and international crimes occurred, it noted, citing rape, murder, looting or pillaging, abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearance, forced displacement, damages to property and recruitment of child soldiers.

The recent floods and acute food insecurity were highlighted as factors that have worsened the situation of civilians in South Sudan.

The rights body also accused the South Sudanese government of alleged harassment of activists, journalists, and their families – including freezing their assets to disrupt their work after a crackdown on civil society following calls for protests in late August 2021.

“In addition to civilians and local communities being targeted with human rights abuses, an international NGO [Non-Governmental Organization] compound in New Fangak was also attacked, and its members were severely beaten,” partly stated the report.

Due to this situation, the monitors could only document incidents until August 2021 and had to stop considering security risks, it stressed.

According the rights entity, local monitors and United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) investigators continued to face challenges with mobility and accessing witnesses, due to Covid-19 and the corresponding travel restrictions adopted by government.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The Friends of Sudan group encouraged the Sudanese parties to “carefully consider” if they need to amend the constitutional declaration and the Juba peace agreement.

The pro-democracy political coalition in Sudan, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) say they could no longer resume the partnership with the military component as established in 2019 and called for a new constitutional declaration in which the transitional authority will be entirely civilian.

Also, the military component and their allied National Charter group call to amend the constitutional declaration to include political groups that would potentially join their side in the transitional legislative council.

The Friend Sudan on Wednesday issued a statement after a meeting held in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the military takeover in Sudan, ways to settle the current political crisis and stop the bloody crackdown on protesters.

The group reaffirmed its support for the UN-facilitated process and urged the Sudanese stakeholders to engage in good faith and re-establish public trust in the inevitable transition to democracy.

“We encourage Sudanese stakeholders to consider carefully whether to amend the Constitutional Declaration and the Juba Peace Agreement, the current basis for the transition, as a way forward,” stressed the statement.

Also, the group urged to set a timeframe for the process which should quickly terminate with the formation of a civilian-led government that will prepare for democratic elections.

The FFC on Wednesday evening met with U.S. ?Assitant Secretary for Africa, Phee Molly to discuss the way out for the political stalemate in Sudan.

Following the meeting, the FFC said they briefed the visiting U.S. official about their position which should lead to democratic rule in Sudan.

The FFC further said they would meet Molly again before she leaves Khartoum for further discussions.

The Friend of Sudan further pointed to the important role that the regional organizations including the African Union, IGAD and the Arab League can play in support of the UNITAMS efforts to end the crisis.

Source: Sudan Tribune