Day: June 13, 2022

Tension has gripped Nyirol and Ayod Counties of Jonglei State following inter-communal clashes that left 15 people dead last week, local officials said.

The fierce gunfight was between community members from Nyirol’s Pulturuk Payam and their neighbours in Mogog Payam of Ayod County.

Simon Hoth Duol, the State Minister for Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that the violence started when an armed group from Ayod County launched an attack on Pulturuk Payam on Thursday morning.

“From the side of Nyirol, four people were killed and three others injured, while 11 people were killed from the Ayod side. According to the report we received, about 2,000 herd cattle have been raided,” Duol explained.

The state government official condemned the attack and said the authorities will engage the rival communities so that the perpetrators can be apprehended.

Makuei Puok Bai, a community representative in Nyirol County, said tensions were high in Pulturuk after the incident.

“As a community, we condemn the attack by our neighbours from Ayod, and we appeal for a government intervention,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Tot Kai, the SPLM Party secretary in Ayod County, said: “Tensions are high. We heard that youth in Nyirol are mobilizing to carry out a revenge attack. The authorities there are working hard to prevent that. Yesterday (Sunday), we held a meeting in Ayod to see how we could resolve these issues along the borders,” Kai said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

Nearly four months since the Russian invasion, Michelle Bachelet used her final keynote address to the Geneva forum, to urge Member States not to give up on the post-COVID-19 plan “to recover better”, and not repeat the kind of devastating global financial meltdown which took place in 2008.

Failure to stick to what was agreed during the dark days of the pandemic – to ignore its lessons, and above all, to not put people first in this global recovery – threaten to leave people and economies even less able to resist new shocks than they are now, the UN rights chief insisted.

“We gathered in multilateral fora, in high level debates and donor meetings and spoke of global solutions and of putting people at the centre of our efforts”, she said.

“We committed ourselves to learning the lessons of the pandemic, and to recover better. Eager to avoid the devastating consequences of the austerity that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the international community agreed to change course: building – together – transformative societies and towards greener economies that will be more resilient to crises. We are now facing a vital test of that commitment. And we need to meet it.”

Bachelet has made ‘profound difference’, declares UN chief

In response to her announcement that she would not be seeking a second term as High Commissioner, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, issued a statement, praising her “relentless service” in the top rights job.

“From her earliest days in Chile, with enormous personal sacrifice, she has been on the frontlines of the human rights struggle all her life”, said the UN chief.

“In all she has done, Michelle Bachelet lives and breathes human rights. She has moved the needle in an extremely challenging political context – and she has made a profound difference for people around the globe. She continues to have my full support. I will always value her wisdom, strong voice and success in ensuring that human rights underpin the actions of the United Nations.”

Ms. Bachelet’s term ends on 31 August.

Marathon session

At the beginning of the Council’s marathon four-week summer session – a week longer than usual to cope with an ever-growing workload – Ms. Bachelet highlighted the need for all countries to respect the climate commitments they’d made in 2015 in Paris, and also the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda – whose financing gap has now widened to some $4.3 trillion per year.

“Without a significant boost in financial resources, we will not be able to achieve the SDGs,” the High Commissioner explained, adding that far greater international cooperation and solidarity for developing nations was key, particularly with regard to the galloping debt relief payments that they face.

“The role of international financial institutions is critical in supporting indebted countries,” she said, noting that international human rights law “provides the framework for this support…ensuring that measures adopted do not result in discriminatory outcomes, in particular for the most marginalized”.

In keeping with tradition, the High Commissioner’s opening address covered many country situations of concern, from Chile to Honduras – where her Office has provided support to tackle femicide – to Haiti, in response to growing gang violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

It also covered Israel, where Ms. Bachelet called for a criminal investigation into last month’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Ms. Bachelet also updated the Council on her recent official visit to China, and on her Office’s as-yet unpublished report into the situation of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang “including broad arbitrary detention and patterns of abuse” in detention.

The report “is being updated” on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, Ms. Bachelet explained, telling journalists later on the sidelines of the Council that she expected it to be released before her mandate ended.

Turkiye, the UK, Guatemala and Singapore were among several other countries to be called out by the UN rights chief for ongoing rule-of-law concerns, while “unconstitutional changes of power” in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Mali also elicited encouragement from Ms. Bachelet to the de-facto authorities to “yield power to civilian-led Governments with democratic legitimacy”.

Any such transition should be “inclusive” and address the “wider grievances of the populations and build democratic societies grounded in accountability and rule of law”, the High Commissioner insisted.

Some 18 months since bloody conflict broke out in northern Ethiopia, reports indicate rights violations and abuses in the Benishangul-Gumuz and Oromia regions “including attacks against civilians, arbitrary detentions and destruction of properties”, Ms. Bachelet noted.

In the US, recent moves by some states to consider restricting abortion “pose a threat to human rights, with disproportionate impact on women with limited resources”, she continued, before welcoming the recent decision of the Colombian Constitutional Court to decriminalize abortion in line with positive developments globally, including in Argentina and Mexico.

After calling on Brazil to ensure that upcoming general elections in October take place with respect for fundamental rights, amid attacks against candidates, “particularly those of African descent, women and LGBTI+ people”, the High Commissioner noted with regret Russia’s “arbitrary arrest of a large number of anti-war protesters”, along with “general prohibitions” on freedom of expression, using “vague and ambiguous notions including ‘false news’.

Created in 2006 to address human rights situations of concern all over the world and to promote the fulfilment of everyone’s basic freedoms, the Council has now met 50 times in regular session.

Assiduous observers of the forum may be interested to know that it has chalked up 2,007 formal meetings, including 34 Special Sessions, seven Urgent Debates and 932 Interactive Dialogues, and 232 Panel Discussion.

The Council has adopted 1,372 resolutions that established 18 Special Procedures representatives on albinism, cultural rights, development, persons with disabilities, environment, international order, border crossings, leprosy, sexual orientation, slavery, sanctions, water and sanitation and discrimination against women, among other topics.

In addition, the Council has created eight Country Special Procedures and 35 Investigative Mechanisms, explained Federico Villegas, the President of the body for 2022, who added that since that first session, civil society participation has increased by more than 150 per cent.

Plaza de Mayo grandmothers honoured

Marking this 50th session, a commemorative event has been planned featuring the participation of several keynote speakers including Estela Carlotto, President of the Association of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo – a human rights organization that has been searching for children who have been kidnapped and disappeared during the dictatorship years in Argentina.

Planned for the opening day of the session, the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, will make its first appearance before the Council since its creation a year ago.

On Thursday 16 June, Ms. Bachelet will be back to present an oral update on the situation in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

The situation in Myanmar will be addressed twice during this first week of the session, with an oral update by the High Commissioner on Tuesday 14 June, followed the day after by a panel discussion on human rights violations against Rohingya and other minorities.

During this first week, the Council will also hear on the situations in Eritrea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Iran.

The Council will also address thematic issues during this first week of the session with interactive dialogues with independent experts on sexual orientation and gender identity, the right of peaceful assembly, the rights of people living with leprosy, and on discrimination against women.

Source: United Nations

Pregnancy puts women at higher risk of severe medical complications or death from COVID-19, according to a new study of more than 1,300 women in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers argue that vaccinating pregnant women against the coronavirus should be made a priority across the region, where most countries do not yet recommend vaccination during pregnancy.

Multiple studies have already shown that COVID-19 is more dangerous to pregnant women than to those who are not pregnant. But most of the women in these studies lived in Europe, North America or Asia. Until now, little data was available from Africa.

“Africa is not Europe, is not the U.S.A.,” said Jean Nachega, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and lead author of the new study. “We should not just rely on data coming from the U.S., Europe or China to try to understand COVID on the continent.”

Populations in Africa are typically younger than those in Europe, North America and East Asia. But certain infectious diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis (TB), as well as noninfectious diseases such as sickle cell anemia, are more common there. Those conditions can make it harder for the body to fight off infections.

In the study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Nachega and his colleagues from the AFREhealth research network analyzed health records from 1,315 women treated at hospitals in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa between March 2020 and March 2021. Roughly a third were pregnant and had tested positive for the coronavirus. Another third were pregnant and had tested negative, and the other third were not pregnant and had tested positive. The researchers tested how pregnancy, infection with the coronavirus, and conditions such as HIV, TB, malaria and sickle cell anemia affected a woman’s likelihood of severe disease or death.

The findings were grim. Pregnant women who were hospitalized in sub-Saharan Africa were five times more likely to die in the hospital if they tested positive for the coronavirus. And being pregnant doubled the odds that a woman admitted to a hospital with COVID-19 would die.

“We had it in both ways: pregnancy impacted COVID, and COVID impacted pregnant women,” said Nachega.

Pregnant women with COVID-19 were also at higher risk of serious complications requiring intensive care. It wasn’t possible to tell whether pregnancy made the combination of COVID-19 and TB or HIV riskier, but women with HIV, TB, malaria or sickle cell who had the coronavirus were more likely to get seriously ill.

“It’s very good that the study was conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is very reassuring that the findings are consistent with the results of other studies,” said Ana Langer, a physician specializing in reproductive health and head of the Women and Health initiative at Harvard University.

Because the study considered only hospitalized women, it wasn’t possible to tell if pregnancy makes women more likely to get infected with the coronavirus or if they get sick from it in the first place. Using data collected in the past can also cause problems with the analysis, which the researchers used statistical tools to correct. But “this was the best study they could do with the availability of funding and the other circumstances,” Langer said.

Nachega hopes that his findings will convince policymakers in sub-Saharan Africa to recommend vaccination for pregnant women and women who could become pregnant.

“The bottom line is that pregnant women need to get vaccinated,” he said. “If not then, before even she gets pregnant. The most important implication of this study is to advocate for COVID vaccination in women of childbearing age.”

Multiple studies have shown that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective during pregnancy, and 110 countries recommend COVID-19 vaccination for some or all pregnant women. However, only 13 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries currently do so. Lack of government support stymies efforts to make the vaccine more accessible to pregnant women and is complicated by high rates of vaccine hesitancy in sub-Saharan Africa, where only about 19% of women intend to get the vaccine.

“Women and their families are worried about their safety, they think that the vaccine could harm them, or their fetuses and babies, and it has been extensively demonstrated that that’s not the case,” said Langer. “The vaccine is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women.”

Source: Voice of America

Botswana is hosting an anti-corruption conference (June 13-14) led by the African Union and the International Monetary Fund. The IMF said the COVID pandemic has underscored the need for good governance.

IMF deputy managing director Antoinette Sayeh said the continent faces increasing challenges in fighting corruption particularly due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“Of course, corruption has long been an issue,” Sayeh said. “But today as we face multiple crises at once – the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing challenges of climate change and the security situation in the Sahel – the need for good governance has only become more urgent.”

Sayeh said countries with strong economic institutions respond better to the new challenges and prepare for a resilient recovery.

She said the IMF has stepped up anti-corruption efforts to ensure accountability during the pandemic.

“Countries receiving IMF emergency financing must commit to transparency and accountability safeguards,” Sayeh said. “This included publishing COVID-19 related procurement contracts — including beneficial ownership of companies, conducting and publishing audits and detailed reporting on COVID spending. In cases of severe governance weaknesses, we work with authorities to ensure remedies would be taken.”

Africa Union commission department director Djamel Ghrib said there is a need for the continent to utilize technology to fight corruption.

“Corruption however does not seem to be moving and Africa remains the region most affected by this scourge,” Ghrib said. “We should all take advantage of the fourth revolution’s impact and wave of element of trust that it has brought to our life. The opportunity of digitization to curb corruption is here and we need to take advantage.”

Transparency International notes that while technology is now available to help uncover corruption, the lack of a supporting legal framework, among other things, hampers progress.

Botswana’s Ministry of Finance secretary for development and budget, Olesitse Masimega says corruption undermines development in most African countries.

“I need to mention the possibility of weak governance and corruption scaring foreign investors and potential business partners that could support economic expansion and modernization, or at worst attracting the wrong kind that would perpetuate the bad outcomes for the economy and society,” Masimega said.

Despite commitments made by leaders in Africa in 2018 to fight corruption, sub-Saharan African remains the world’s lowest scoring region on the International Transparency Corruption Perception Index.

Source: Voice of America

South Sudan’s security affair advisor, Tutkew Gatluak Manime has reiterated Juba’s support for internal dialogue in neighbouring Sudan, describing it the best solution for peace and stability in the country.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Monday, Presidential adviser Tut Gatluak Manime said South Sudan government is working with regional and international partners to ensure that Sudan’s stability is achieved through peaceful dialogue.

He cited the involvement of the United Nations, European Union, African Union, and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as a number of African countries as key in efforts to end the political and security crisis in Sudan.

“All our efforts, from the East, Central, North and West African countries, whether as individuals or groups of countries are working together to arrest the situation in Sudan and to put the country on the track of peace and stability”, said Manime.

The official disclosed that he was tasked to coordinate efforts towards consultative dialogue processes aimed at finding remedies to the crisis in Sudan.

“His Excellency the President of the Republic [of South Sudan] is a man of peace and for this reason, he gave me and other colleagues a huge responsibility to help coordinate and facilitate all these efforts, whether by groups or individual countries and friends of Sudan and South Sudan to find a solution to the current political situation in Sudan. And during this process, it became clear that peaceful dialogue is what the majority desire. This is what is being pursued,” said Manime.

He added, “We have talked and still reaching out for consultation with more groups and individuals. This shows his personal commitment to peace in Sudan”.

Last week, the Europeans Union (EU) and western diplomats expressed “deep” regrets and concerns after the 100th civilian died as a result of the protests that broke out following the 25 October, 2021 military coup in Sudan.

They, however, called on authorities in Sudan to adopt confidence-building measures such as halting the use of force against civilians, repeal of emergency decisions, investigating human rights violations and release of those detained for involvement in protests over the military take-over from a civilian-led government.

Security experts have argued that an unstable Sudan may provide a fertile ground for human trafficking and terrorist activities since the East African nation is often used as an avenue by unemployed across the continent to access Europe and other Gulf countries, where they reportedly engage in unlawful activities.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Clashes in Sudan’s Darfur between Arab and non-Arab groups have killed more than 100 people, adding to a toll of hundreds in the region over recent months.

The latest fighting broke out last week between the Arab Rizeigat and non-Arab Gimir tribes in the district of Kolbus, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from El Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur state.

It started as a land dispute between two people, one from the Rizeigat and another from the Gimir, before morphing into broader violence involving other members from both tribes.

“The fighting has so far killed 117 people and left 17 villages burnt,” including three Monday, Ibrahim Hashem, a leader in the ethnic African Gimir tribe, told AFP by phone.

Hashem said the deaths counted so far were largely among the Gimir tribe. He added that “many people” from his tribe have gone missing since the violence broke out and was continuing.

It was not immediately clear how many were killed among the Arab tribe.

The latest violence highlighted a broader security breakdown in Darfur which was exacerbated by last year’s military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The October coup derailed a fragile transition put in place following the 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir.

In April alone, more than 200 people were killed in clashes between an Arab community and the non-Arab Massalit minority in the Krink area of West Darfur.

The United Nations estimated 125,000 people were displaced in that unrest.

A month earlier, fighting in South Darfur between the ethnic Fallata and the Arab Rizeigat tribes killed at least 45 people.

On Monday, U.N. special representative Volker Perthes said he was “appalled” by the violence in Kolbus.

“The cycle of violence in Darfur is unacceptable & highlights root causes that must be addressed,” he said on Twitter.

Perthes called on the fighting sides to “de-escalate.”

Sudan’s western Darfur region was ravaged by a bitter civil war that erupted in 2003.

The conflict pitted ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government of then-President Bashir.

Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, who were blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.

The scorched-earth campaign left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.

Many Janjaweed have since been integrated into the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, de facto deputy leader of Sudan, according to rights groups.

In 2020, Sudan signed a peace deal with key rebel groups including those from Darfur.

The main conflict has subsided over the years, but the region remains awash with weapons and deadly clashes often erupt over access to pasture or water.

Source: Voice of America