Day: March 10, 2022

Senegalese President and chair of the African Union Macky Sall has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a lasting cease-fire in Ukraine. Sall’s talk with Putin comes just a week after Senegal abstained from a U.N. vote to condemn the Russian invasion. African nations have interests in seeing an end to the war but also in not upsetting Putin.

Sall’s request as chairman of the African Union Wednesday was a contrast to his actions as Senegalese president a week prior, when Senegal joined 16 other African countries in abstaining from a U.N. vote to condemn the Russian invasion.

Senegal is considered a beacon of democracy in West Africa, so the move came as a surprise to many.

“[Non-alignment] has been the default posture for many African countries over the years where they prefer not to get involved or not to get in between great power rivalries,” said Joseph Siegle, the director of research for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “And so, it isn’t a vote of support for Russia, but a vote for trying to maintain neutrality.”

Russia has a plethora of business dealings throughout the African continent. Senegal, for example, signed a $300 million deal with Russian oil company Lukoil just last year. The company also has operations in Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria. Russian mining companies are also active throughout Africa, from extracting diamonds in Angola to aluminum in Guinea and uranium in Namibia.

Most notably, Moscow is Africa’s leading supplier of weapons. Since 2015, it’s signed military agreements with more than 20 African countries.

Furthermore, private Russia military companies with close ties to the Kremlin have gained an increasingly strong foothold in African countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic.

So, while it may be in the best interest of many African countries to avoid tension with the Kremlin, leaders are beginning to feel the ripple effects of the war.

“Russia is a country that exports a lot of products, notably gas and raw materials like wheat,” said Abdou Rahmane Thiam, head of the political science department at Dakar’s University of Cheikh Anta Diop. “That can have an economic impact especially with regards to trade.”

Luckily, the African Union does have some sway, Thiam said.

“International relations are not only decided by major world powers — the African Union is still a regional institution. It can be considered an influential voice,” Thiam said. “Russia also needs Africa. It’s in their best interest to listen to the spokesperson of the African Union.”

In a statement about the call, the Kremlin referred to the invasion as a “special military operation to protect Donbass” and did not mention Sall’s request for a cease-fire. Instead, it stated that Russia was asked to safely evacuate foreign citizens and said both leaders had reaffirmed their commitment to further develop Russian-African relations.

Source: Voice of America

South Sudan has called on the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei to protect civilians from bloody attacks.

The call comes after a recent attack by Misseriya herders that resulted in the death of 27 people in the disputed border area on March 6.

Presidential affairs Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that the President and the leadership of the revitalized transitional government are aware of recent developments in Abyei

The Abyei chief administrator spoke with the South Sudanese leadership including President Salva Kiir about the situation in Abyei.

He said the situation has now been under control thanks to the collaborative work between the government and the leadership of the United Nations force in the area.

“The security situation will be addressed through the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). We have spoken to their leadership to ensure that peace prevails by providing adequate security to the lives and properties of the citizens.”

“UNISFA has the mandate to provide not only security and protection of the lives and properties of the civilians but has a responsibility to provide the duty of care to civilians under extreme conditions,” he stressed.

In New York, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the UNITAMS is deeply concerned about the renewed violence in the southern part of the Abyei Area.

“The Mission is talking with local leaders and is urging the parties to exercise restraint. They have also stepped up its patrols of the areas most affected by the recent violence and has also provided shelter and protection to people fleeing the fighting,” reads the statement.

The Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Agok was targeted, while there have also been three armed attacks on UN patrols.

In separate statements to the Sudan Tribune, Deng Alor Kuol, Minister of East Africa Affairs, and a son of Abyei said he was in contact with Sudanese officials and its embassy in Juba to ensure attacks on his native home area were stopped.

Kuol said the area has over the past months been witnessing hostile activities from Sudan and was working with all the stakeholders and partners to ensure the de-escalation of tensions.

The attacks come at the time people should now be preparing their farmlands as they wait for planting seasons, he said underlining that the insecurity in the region could cause severe food shortage and hunger in the near future.

“But as leaders of the area and in South Sudan, we are talking to those involved to stop these activities and let come to the table and dialogue if there are issues that we need to discuss”.

The U.S. embassies in Khartoum and Juba released a joint statement to condemn the recent attacks on Abyei.

The statement underscored that “UNISFA’s mandate authorizes peacekeepers to use all necessary means, which includes the use of force when required, in order to protect civilians under threat of physical violence”.

Also, the two embassies called on all sides to cease reprisals and return to dialogue.

“We call on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to lend their political support to UNISFA to deescalate such attacks,” added the joint statement.

Source: Sudan Tribune

A military intelligence sergeant was brutally killed by protesters near the presidential palace, the Sudanese army said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, near the presidential palace areas, there were widespread protests denouncing the military’s coup and calling for civilian rule. The police violently dispersed the protesters using tear gas and stun grenades.

Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdallah told the Sudan Tribune that Sergeant Mirghani Al-Jilly was brutally killed after being stoned.

“His body was mutilated,” he further said.

“This is an alien behaviour to the morals of the Sudanese people in their long history,” he said, adding that the search for the arrest of the accused continued.

He added, “His body was mutilated in an intrusive behaviour against the morals of the Sudanese people in its long history,” noting that the search will continue to arrest the perpetrators.

The Sovereign Council, in a separate statement, said that the sergeant who works in the intelligence of the presidential palace was found dead after the March 8 demonstrations.

This is the second time that the Sudanese authorities accuse protesters of murdering a security member.

Last January, the Sudanese police accused demonstrators of killing a brigadier while he was participating in securing the streets surrounding the palace.

Several people have been accused including a young man called Mohamed Adam Tobac but his lawyers said he was tortured before to confess the murder, and called for his release.

Also, the Resistance Committees that spearhead the protests, political parties and civil society organizations ruled out the involvement of demonstrators in such crimes.

Source: Sudan Tribune