Day: February 23, 2022

The military-led Sovereign Council decided to set up a committee to demarcate tribal lands in eastern Sudan as part of its efforts to settle a crisis triggered by the rejection of several Beja tribes of the Juba peace agreement.

In order to end the tribal dispute, the Sovereign Council suspended the Eastern Sudan peace agreement in mid-December 2021 and formed a high committee to end the crisis chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemetti.

The committee, which include also tribal leaders, held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations made to settle the dispute.

After the meeting, Hemetti issued several decisions to ease tensions and end the dispute between the supporters and the opponents of the peace agreement.

The most important of these decisions was the formation of the High Technical Committee for delaminating and demarcating the administrative boundaries of tribes and the chiefdoms in the three eastern Sudan states.

The decision provides that Muaz Ahmed Mohamed Tango, head of the National Border Commission, will head the committee.

Also, it requested the tribe to prepare and produce maps and documents that confirm their ownership of ancestral lands.

According to several sources, the committee had initially decided to redraw the borders of the three states of eastern Sudan, Mohamed Turk but the leader of the Beja group opposed the peace agreement demanding that the decision be amended to demarcate the administrative borders of the tribal chiefdoms in each state.

For his part, Abdallah Mohamed Darf, a representative of the Beni Amer tribal group, voiced his opposition to this request. He said that demarcating the borders between the states is better, adding that no tribe can be defined by lands.

However, Hemetti backed Turk stressing the existence of “moral rights” for the tribes. He added that every tribe or chiefdom has its own land and borders.

The Beni Amer tribe, which also has branches in Eretria, says that the Hadandawi leader Turk has been targeting their tribal group.

The group had previously criticized the former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok for relieving the FFC nominated former Kassala Governor Saleh Ammar in October 2020 under Turk pressure.

At the time, the Beja leader said Kassala cannot be ruled by Beni Amer.

Turk who was close to the banned National Congress Party of the former President Omer al-Bashir had requested to join the Juba peace talks to ensure their participation in the government once an agreement is concluded.

Having been rejected, he mobilized tribal groups in eastern Sudan against the deal.

But when the government rejected their request, they staged a series of protests including blocking the Khartoum-Port Sudan strategic highway, closing the maritime terminals on the Red Sea and Port Sudan airport.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan signed on a Tuesday a unified policy document with oil companies, ending years of protest and negotiation to harmonize payment and salary structure. The pact, if implemented, will now allow oil companies and other institutions operating in South Sudan to make equal pay for doing the same job with foreign nationals in the oil and other sectors.

Minister Puot Kang explains to reporters that the unified human resources policy document will be the basis of employment and payment in the oil industry. The document, he explained, requires that nationals and foreign experts in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work.

The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal. If there is an inequality in wages between these two categories, employers may not reduce the wages of either employee to equalize their pay. A key step in developing a unified policy is to produce an equal pay policy, which should be distinct and explicit, not an add-on to more general equality and diversity policy.

He expressed gratefulness to the staff, president Salva Kiir, first vice president Riek Machar and the cabinet for support during the negotiation and consistency in ensuring the policy document is implemented without changes.

Today we have initialled the agreement on the full implementation of the Unified Human Resources Policy Manual. (UHRPM) A document that was launched on the 21st of December 2020. However, all this time, we have been having back and forth discussions with the partners. But, finally, yesterday we have agreed that the document must be implemented without any changes to it. Today, it was initialled by Mr Liu Zyiyong, Country manager of CNPC/CNODC, Mr Peter Majid, Country Chairman of PETRONAS Carigali Nile Ltd,

Mr Praveen Kumar, Acting Country Manager of ONGC/OVL, and Mr Yang Qingwen, Alternate Director of the SIPC/SINOPEC. These are the major shareholders. The three consortiums have initialled the agreement today. We believe it’s now a working document. The Joint Operating Companies (JOCs) will only work on how to implement it. The agreement has already been reached and that is what we have done today”, explained Minister Puot Kang.

He continued: To my fellow South Sudanese people, allow me to thank and appreciate the leadership of our country for their firm support and their stance behind the ministry of Petroleum particularly President Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, The First Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny, and the Cabinet. Their support for this Agenda renders a positive outcome. I thank them so much for their support.

Kang applauded the National staff for their patience and tolerance. Each time they would want to strike, we would advise them to call it off and go back to their houses. They have never disappointed or disobeyed us. We are thankful to them all”, he said.

He added: Last but not least, they have achieved it today. I would like to congratulate them on their victory. I would also like to congratulate all the people of South Sudan. The victory is not exclusively for JOCs workers. This achievement is for all of us because if you’re not on board today, probably you will be the Captain of the Ship tomorrow.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Former South Sudanese Deputy Defence Minister has slammed calls for the resignation of President Salva Kiir made by his adviser, stressing that the latter must leave first.

“When I often hear of these declarations by Gen Kuol Manyang that it’s time to go home, I wonder what is he still waiting for?” Majak D’Agoôt said in a tweet posted in response to the former Defence Minister and Senior Presidential Adviser.

D’Agoôt added that leaders leave when they are unfit to discharge public authority.

“Abel Alier and Elijah Malok retired quietly without this much fuss”, he pinpointed.

Manyang former adviser on military affairs Daniel Awet Akot stressed that their call for President Kiir to form active politics aims to preserve the legacy of the liberation struggle.

They added that it is time for their generation to give way to young people to build the country.

D’Agoôt was one of the senior members of the ruling SPLM who were arrested in 2013 when they raised voices calling for political reforms in the young country. In addition, they called for the democratization of the ruling guerrilla movement to a conventional political party.

The debate caused tensions that descended into violence and morphed into an ethnic and regional conflict in 2013 and 2016.

While his group (SPLM Leaders) has been represented in the cabinet by at least two ministers and a vice-president, he opted to engage in research and academic works, teaching mostly in western universities in the United Kingdom and America where he has been offered part-time assignments in some, full time in others.

He is now a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London since 2019.

He previously served as the former Deputy Chief of the Sudanese Intelligence and South Sudan’s Defence Minister and has formerly held the role of Senior analyst at the Changing Horizon Institute for Strategic Policy Analysis (CHI-SPA).

He has published articles in peer-review journals and think pieces in media outlets in Africa, the Middle East, and the West, covering various policy spheres.

Majak D’Agoôt holds an MSc in Quantitative Finance and a PhD in Financial Economics from SOAS, University of London.

He also holds an MSc in Security Sector Management from Cranfield University and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The former rebel Third Front Tamazug Lagawa Sector Wednesday announced the withdrawal of its fighter from the capital, Khartoum, in implementation of a recent decision of the Security and Defense Council.

In a meeting held in El-Fasher earlier this month, the Council directed the peace agreement signatory groups to withdraw their combatants from the capital, Khartoum, and the capital cities of other states, in order to start the process of security arrangements.

The decision was announced from the North Darfur after looting attacks by members of the former rebel groups on the former UNAMID camp and WFP warehouses.

In a press conference held at the official news agency SUNA, Maj Gen Bashir Tawer Jebara, Head of the Lagawa Sector, said that the group evacuated its military forces outside the capital, Khartoum, and all the other cities across the country.

He added they would be heading on Thursday towards its cantonment sites in Al-Sitieb and Al-Debib of West Kordofan State.

The Third Front encompasses several factions from the White Nile, Kordofan and Darfur regions. The Lagawa Section is from South Kordofan.

The undisciplined fighters of these groups were involved in several looting and criminal attacks. They even clashed with the security forces last year.

For their part, the signatory groups blamed the government for delaying the enforcement of the security arrangements and not providing material and logistical assistance.

In a recent report to the UN Security Council, the UN panel of independent experts monitoring the arms embargo in Darfur said the former rebels justified their continued presence in Libya by the non-implementation of the security arrangement.

Source: Sudan Tribune