Day: March 16, 2022

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Daglo aka Hemetti denied on Tuesday reports about the signing of an agreement to operate, manage and develop the Port Sudan terminal on the Red Sea.

Hemetti arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday where thousands of protesters took to the street to reject his visit to the main seaport city.

Upon his arrival, he stated that the purpose of his visit is to see the problems the state and terminal are facing and to seek to address them.

“This will be discussed with the competent authorities, the ministers of the economic sector, and specialists to discuss satisfactory solutions,” he said.

“We did not come to sign an agreement concerning the seaport. We came with the specialists and the governor to deal with the accumulated problems in the coming days,” he further stressed.

The Sudanese official did not explain to which agreement he was referring.

On March 13, the acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq told reporters after al-Burhan return from Abu Dhabi that the head of the Sovereign Council and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan agreed to establish strategic economic partnerships in the areas of roads, ports, railways, military cooperation.

During Hemetti’s tour of the terminal, the state governor spoke to reporters saying that Hemetti “Will not give it to the UAE or” before to be interrupted by the deputy-chairman of the Sovereign Council he told him “I did not speak about any country”.

The civilian transitional government in the past dismissed any intention to sign a deal with the UAE’s port operator DP World after reports about this matter.

Sudanese street is not favourable to such a deal because the Gulf country is accused of supporting the coup leaders.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) till March 15, 2023.

Resolution 2625 decided to maintain the overall force levels of UNMISS with a troop ceiling of 17,000 personnel and a police ceiling of 2,101 personnel.

It expressed the Security Council’s readiness to consider adjustments to UNMISS force levels and capacity-building tasks to match security conditions on the ground.

The resolution decided that UNMISS’s mandate is designed to advance a three-year strategic vision to prevent a return to civil war in South Sudan, to build durable peace at the local and national levels, and to support inclusive and accountable governance and free, fair, and peaceful elections in accordance with the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

The four core elements of the mandate remain largely unchanged, namely protecting civilians; creating the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance; supporting the peace process; and monitoring, investigating and reporting on violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights.

The resolution demanded that all parties to the conflict and other armed actors immediately end the fighting throughout South Sudan and engage in political dialogue.

It reminded South Sudanese authorities of their primary responsibility to protect civilians and further urged South Sudan’s leaders implement the permanent cease-fire declared in the R-ARCSS and all previous cease-fire and cessation of hostilities agreements.

The resolution also expressed the Security Council’s deep concern about the delays in implementing the peace deal, calling on the parties to fully implement the agreement and establish its institutions without delay.

Almost 20,000 peacekeepers serve with UNMISS to protect civilians and build durable peace in the conflict-affected country. The civilian, police and military personnel from 73 countries carry out many duties under the mandate provided by the Security Council.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has appointed a new adviser for peace barely three months after signing a peace agreement with a splinter faction of the armed opposition group (SPLM-IO).

Kiir, in a presidential decree read out on state-owned SSTV, appointed Gen. David Reath Malual Luak to replace the former SPLA-IO chief of general staff Genera Simon Gatwech Dual who declined to take up the position.

Luak’s nomination was in accordance with the provision of the 2018 revitalized peace accord, which permits the armed opposition faction to nominate someone as presidential adviser for peace and reconciliation.

Gatwech was appointed to the advisory role in June 2021, but turned down the offer in protest over the slow pace of the implementation of the deal.

It remains unclear whether Dual, who signed a separate peace agreement with President Kiir early this year, had been promised a new position.

Luak served as Malakal Central Prison Director before the civil war in 2013.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Implementation of public financial management reforms should improve accountability and the fight against corruption in South Sudan, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said Wednesday.

The call comes days after a team from the Finance and Economic Planning ministry met a delegation from International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Juba to discuss how the financial institution could work with government to restructure and reform the financial management system in the country.

“Fighting all forms of corruption or delivering financial reforms through political statements than actualizing the required standards of operations for financial reforms and anti-corruption is not convincing enough. Government should show commitment towards transparent implementation of financial reforms provided for in Chapter IV of the revitalized peace agreement,” says CEPO’s Executive Director, Edmund Yakani.

South Sudan was ranked as the most corrupt amongst the 180 countries in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International (TI).

The TI index, which ranked 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0-100 – where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is clean.

In January, the Troika member states called for expedition in the implementation of public financial management reforms in South Sudan, saying strengthening of such reforms demonstrate government’s commitment to reform process and enhance trust with global partners.

South Sudan made significant progress on public financial management reforms, including prudent monetary policy, successful foreign exchange reform and steps towards sounder public cash management.

These steps, according to the Troika, have already benefitted South Sudan’s people through a more stable exchange rate and slower inflation.

“CEPO is urging both the IMF and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure that the other state institutions that are constitutionally mandated to ensure that transparency and accountability are practically functional without any political constraints,” said Yakani.

He cited state institutions such as the Auditor General of South Sudan, Anti-Corruption Commission of South Sudan, Fiscal Allocation and Monitoring Commission and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament.

“Non-functionality of these state institutions raises serious transparency and accountability concerns as financial reforms take effect,” stressed Yakani.

Meanwhile, CEPO urged the IMF to ensure that the United Nations Convention against Corruption is implemented and its outcomes reviewed.

Revenues from oil constitute over 98 percent South Sudan’s annual budget.

Source: Sudan Tribune