Day: March 3, 2022

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South Sudan rejects Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

South Sudan on Wednesday walked away from the decisions taken by her southern and northern neighbours, saying it would follow the decision of the African Union which condemned the invasion of Russia.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Dau Deng Malek told reporters on Wednesday his government and its president Salva Kiir have decided to stand with the decision taken by the African Union which called on Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and end the invasion.

In a statement issued last week, the continental body called on Russia and Ukraine to establish a ceasefire and open political negotiations to preserve the world from the consequences of planetary.

The African Countries are being represented by Kenya, Gabon, and Ghana in the UN Security Council.

Kenya represents the East African Countries, Gabon is representing the Central African Countries and Ghana represents the West African Countries.

The Kenyan ambassador to UN Security Council condemned Russia’s decision to send troops into Ukraine. Martin Kimani said the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine stands breached.

He added that the charter of the United Nations continues to wilt under the relentless assault of the powerful.

Malek said the government of South Sudan supports a foreign policy that advocates and respects non-interference in the affairs of the other countries.

“The government of the Republic of South Sudan stands with the position of the African Union which rejects the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, said Malek. Our stand as the African continent is together and our ambassador in New York stands with this group, so we don’t have a separate stand out of the African continent,” said Malek.

The minister confirmed that there were five South Sudanese students in Ukraine in the town of Kharkiv but now have crossed into Poland. He said arrangements were underway to return them to the country.

South Sudan had very few numbers of our students in Ukraine in a place called Kharkiv. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, which was experiencing bombardment.

All the South Sudanese students crossed to Poland on Saturday and Sunday.

The statement by South Sudan’s government followed a statement by Gen Kainerugaba – who is the commander of Uganda’s land forces, that “the majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia’s stand in Ukraine”.

Gen Kainerugaba and Sudan’s Gen Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Daglo, are considered the first the only senior military officers in Africa to publicly voice support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

When the USSR parked nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba in 1962, the West was ready to blow up the world over it. Now when Nato does the same they expect Russia to do differently, tweeted the first son of the Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

Source: Sudan Tribune

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Friends of Sudan call to launch second phase of UNITAMS-facelifted dialogue process

The Friends of Sudan welcomed the end of the first stage of the consultations process organised by the UNITAMD and called to engage in the next phase paving the way towards restoring a civilian transition government.

On 8 January 2022, UNITAMS launched a two-phase political process to end the military takeover and resume a transitional process suspended by the military coup. Based on the findings of these consultations the Mission will facilitate a Sudanese-led dialogue.

Before releasing their report about the outcome of the consultations on February 28, Volker Perthes and his team held 110 consultation meetings with over 800 participants involving women groups from various parts of Sudan, as well as those contained in over 80 written submissions.

In a joint statement, the Friends of Sudan welcomed the publication by UNITAMS of its summary report on the consultations.

“The Friends of Sudan call on all relevant Sudanese stakeholders to engage in the next phase of a political process to resolve the political crisis in Sudan,” they said.

Also, they reiterated their commitment to support Sudan to achieve the transition and elect a democratic government.

The Friends of Sudan includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union.

The statement did not refer to a process that the African-Union IGAD process plan to launch to mediate a solution for the Sudanese crisis.

Source: Sudan Tribune

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Russia-Ukraine conflict: Oil jumps, Brent above US$116 per barrel as supply issues persist

LONDON— Oil prices extended their rally on Thursday, with Brent rising above US$116 a barrel, as trade disruption and shipping issues from Russian sanctions over the Ukraine crisis sparked supply worries while US crude stocks fell to multiyear lows.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia have decided to maintain an increase in output by 400,000 barrels per day in March despite the price surge, ignoring the Ukraine crisis during their talks and snubbing calls from consumers for more crude.

Brent crude futures rallied to US$116.83 a barrel, the highest since August 2013. The contract was at US$116.60 a barrel, up US$3.67 by 1.12am GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at US$113.01 a barrel, up US$2.41 after touching a fresh 11-year high of US$113.31 a barrel.

“The White House ratcheted up pressure on Russia with the announcement that it will apply export controls targeting Russian oil refining,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

“This raises concerns that Russian oil supplies will continue to hit constraints.”

The market was reacting to the latest round of sanctions by Washington on Russia’s oil refining sector that raised concerns that Russian oil and gas exports could be targeted next.

So far, it has stopped short of targeting Russia’s oil and gas exports as the Biden administration weighs the impacts on global oil markets and US energy prices.

Russia is the world’s No 3 oil producer and the largest exporter of oil to global markets, according to the International Energy Agency. Russian crude and oil products exports reached 7.8 million barrels per day in December, the agency said.

Meanwhile, US oil inventories continued to decline. The key Cushing, Oklahoma crude hub’s tanks were at their lowest since 2018, while US strategic reserves dropped to a near 20-year low – and that was before another release announced by the White House on Tuesday in tandem with other industrialised nations.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Covid-19 has taken severe mental health toll, a 25% increase globally: WHO

GENEVA— The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a dire toll on mental health, the WHO said Wednesday, indicating that cases of anxiety and depression had swelled by over 25 percent globally.

In a fresh scientific brief, the World Health Organization also found that the Covid-19 crisis had in many cases significantly impeded access to mental health services and raised concerns about increases in suicidal behaviour.

The brief, which was based on an umbrella review of a vast number of studies, determined that the world saw a 27.6-percent increase in cases of major depressive disorder in 2020 alone.

During the first year of the pandemic, there was also a 25.6-percent hike in cases of anxiety disorders worldwide, it found.

“In terms of scale, this is a very large increase,” said Brandon Gray of WHO’s mental health and substance use department, who coordinated the scientific brief.

The brief, he said, “shows that Covid-19 has had a large impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing.”

The greatest increases were found in places that were heavily affected by Covid-19, in terms of high daily infection rates and decreased mobility due to restrictions, the study found.

Women and girls were more affected than males, and younger people, especially those between the ages of 20 and 24 were more affected than older adults.

Data on suicides was meanwhile mixed, and did not clearly show a change in global rates since the start of the pandemic.

Data from some countries showed rising rates, but others showed that rates had decreased or remained the same.

But Gray pointed out that there is often a delay in collecting and analysing such statistics.

“I don’t think these results should be taken to indicate that suicidal behaviours is not a concern,” he said.

The study meanwhile did indicate a higher risk of suicidal behaviours, including suicide attempts and self harm, among young people since the start of the crisis.

Exhaustion among health workers, loneliness and positive Covid-19 diagnoses were meanwhile shown to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts, it found.

The study also showed that people living with mental disorders had an increased risk of severe illness and death from Covid.

Gray said more research was needed to understand the link.

One reason, he suggested, might be that people living with mental disorders may lead less healthy and active lifestyles, with higher rates of smoking, substance abuse and obesity than among the general public.

Wednesday’s study also showed that outpatient mental health services were widely disrupted in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, decreasing access to essential care.

These disruptions were mitigated in many cases by shifting services towards online healthcare.

While this was good news, the study pointed out that the shift obviously exacerbated barriers to proper care for people with little internet access or low levels of technological literacy.

The difficulties in responding to mental health challenges amid the pandemic were largely a result of “chronic underinvestment” in such services before Covid-19 hit, Gray said.

“The decades of underinvestment is showing up now in our lack of preparedness to address the scale of the problem,” he said.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russian, Belarusian athletes can no longer compete in Beijing Winter Paralympics – IPC

BONN (GERMANY)— Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to compete at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said on Thursday, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for which Belarus has been key staging area.

The decision comes a day after the IPC gave athletes from the two countries the green light to participate as neutrals, saying that the governing body had followed its rules and that “athletes were not the aggressors”.

“Following a specially convened meeting, the IPC Governing Board has decided to refuse the athlete entries from the RPC and NPC Belarus for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games,” the IPC said in a statement.

“This means that para athletes from these respective countries will no longer be allowed to participate in the Games which open on March 4, 2022.

“What is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games.”

Thursday’s verdict was condemned by various sporting bodies, with many urging the IPC to reverse its decision.

The 71-member Russian contingent is already in Beijing for the Games, which kick off on Friday.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Hemedti says Sudan should be open to naval base accord with Russia

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Al-Araby

Sudan’s deputy head of state said on Wednesday his country had no problem with Russia or any other country opening a naval base on its Red Sea coast, provided it posed no threat to national security. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, deputy head of Sudan’s sovereign council, was speaking on arrival in Khartoum following a trip to Moscow that began on February 23, the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We have 730 kilometres along the Red Sea. If any country wants to open a base and it is in our interests and doesn’t threaten our national security we have no problem i… Continue reading “Hemedti says Sudan should be open to naval base accord with Russia”