Day: August 19, 2022

JUBA— On the eve of World Humanitarian Day, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, called for joint action to address the aid crisis in the country and end attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers.

“It takes a village to raise a child. In the same way, it takes an array of partners to support crisis-affected people,” stated Sara Beysolow Nyanti.

“We need urgent collective efforts to help the vulnerable population in South Sudan”.

The Humanitarian Coordinator paid tribute to the aid workers, communities, local authorities and first responders who provide life-saving assistance to thousands of people in dire humanitarian need.

“I commend the humanitarian workers and all those risking their own lives to alleviate the suffering and save the lives of others,” she said.

South Sudan continues to be the most violent context for aid workers, followed by Afghanistan and Syria.

Since the beginning of the year, five humanitarian workers were killed there in the line of duty.

Across the country, aid workers – mostly national humanitarian workers are affected by the impact of armed violence, bureaucratic impediments, and targeted violence.

From Jan 1 to July 30, 232 incidents related to humanitarian access constraints were reported, with the highest being in Jonglei and Central Equatoria, which account for 40 per cent of all reported incidents.

People across the country, especially women and girls, face many protection risks, including conflict-related and gender-based sexual violence, armed violence, and abductions.

These critical protection risks are compounded by rule of law and access to justice deficits.

“Impunity is a perpetuating factor and a driver of conflict and insecurity. There is an urgent need to bring perpetrators to justice. We need strengthened joint action, multidimensional dialogue, and engagement to address this,” stated Nyanti.

“All armed factions must immediately cease targeting civilians, humanitarian personnel and their assets. Impunity must end,” she added.

As the crisis in South Sudan continues, the humanitarian community and partners each day step up to respond, including by providing food and livelihood support; health, nutrition and clean water; protection services; and emergency education to millions of women, children and men.

“I would like to highlight and honour the humanitarians, especially women, who work tirelessly on the frontlines in most difficult environment, trying to reach thousands of crisis-affected people,” said Nyanti.

“On this day, we come together to pay tribute to all responders supporting people in need of humanitarian assistance, and we should do so every other day”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Sudan offered more oil blocks to Russia’s Zarubezhneft oil producer said a Sudanese official at the end of a ministerial visit to Moscow on Friday.

A Sudanese ministerial delegation headed by the minister of minerals ended a three-day visit from August 17 to 19 to Moscow where they participate in the meeting of the joint economic between Sudan and Russia on Friday.

“We discussed Zarubezhneft’s proposal for investments in Sudan. We previously provided several blocks for development, and now we have added more, in regions with gas and oil potential,” Director General of Oil Exploration and Production Administration at the Sudanese Ministry of Oil, al-Tahir Abul-Hassan said at the end of the joint meetings on Friday.

“I think by October we will pass on the necessary information so that they can start looking at these areas,” Abul Hassan added according to the Interfax news agency.

The military-led government in Khartoum has expanded bilateral relations with Russia which is straggling to enhance political and economic cooperation and develop influence in Africa after the imposition of international sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.

For his part, Dmitry Semyonov, head of the Russian Energy Ministry’s International Cooperation Department, told reporters that the two countries consider expanding oil and cooperation.

Semyonov said they agreed with Sudan’s energy and oil ministry and state-oil firm Sudapet to increase oil exploration in the country.

“We also agreed to discuss expanding cooperation in the oil sector beyond just production, to look at oil recovery technologies, associated gas utilization, oil refining, petrochemicals and training,” Semyonov further said.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday, the Minister of Minerals Mohamed Bashir said the two countries signed several agreements in 10 sectors including “energy and mining, economy, agriculture, trade, industry, tourism, transportation, communications, geology and higher education.”

Timur Samoletov of the Russian Agriculture Ministry told reporters on Friday that the two countries plan to expand and diversify trade in agricultural products

“A number of agreements were reached during the expert consultations. First, strengthening bilateral cooperation in the agro-industrial complex, as well as on increasing and diversifying the turnover of agricultural products,” Samoletov said.

Samoletov further said that the volume of trade in agricultural products between Russia and Sudan exceeded $287 million in 2021 and that it totalled $137.7 million in January-July 2022.

During the year 2022 until July, Sudan paid some $110 million to secure wheat from Russia and $37 million to import sunflower oil.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Several farmers have been attacked in Kordofan. One farmer and his son were killed in West Kordofan two days ago, whilst farmers in South Kordofan were attacked by armed robbers earlier this month. Another farmer and a young man were attacked in South Kordofan in July. All those cases were reported to the police, but they refused to respond.

A farmer and his son were killed in an attack in West Kordofan on Wednesday.

Mustafa Abdelrahim told Radio Dabanga that a group of gunmen opened fire on Ahmed Ismail, his wife, and his son while they were working on their farm in the village of El Fara, east of Lagawa.

Ismail and his son (14) died instantly. His wife was shot in the hand and was taken to Lagawa Hospital for treatment.

The perpetrators fled, Abdelrahim said. He warned that the attack could lead to tribal unrest in the area.

Earlier this month, on August 4, a group of gunmen attacked and robbed farmers in the village of Redeina, about 15 km southwest of Abu Kershola town in South Kordofan.

The Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported on Tuesday that Asaad El Kheir (68) was tilling his farm together with his workers when they were attacked by eight masked armed robbers on four motorcycles and two tuk-tuks.

They robbed them of their telephones, money, fuel, and other belongings. Before they left, they beat El Kheir with sticks and broke his both legs.

A complaint was filed at the Abu Kershola police, but the police did not respond.

When masked armed people shot farmer Omer Hamza El Obeid last month, and fractured his leg, the case was reported to Kadugli police but there was no response either.

On July 14, Mubarak Hamid (23) was injured in his leg when a man entered his house in Kujuriya village, west of Delling, and shot him while he was sleeping, HUDO reported. The case was reported to the police in Delling but, again, there was no response.

Police response

In most cases of murder and violence in Kordofan that Radio Dabanga has reported on, the police do not respond or refuse to visit crime scenes.

Not seldomly, government forces are involved or complicit in the attacks. Last month, angry residents in South Kordofan torched a police station after policemen were discovered to be involved in the murder of two young people.

The angry protests erupted when the relatives of the dead men objected to what they described as “the police department’s delay in [following] the procedures, and an attempt to obliterate evidence”.

At the end of July, Radio Dabanga also reported on the Rapid Support Forces assaulting civilians in North Kordofan. The RSF are widely believed to be responsible for atrocities in the Kordofan and Darfur regions in the past years.

Safety concerns

Like in Darfur, attacks on farmers are nothing new in South Kordofan.

Earlier this week, farmers staged a protest in Delling, angered by the general lack of funding and the delay of payments of financial support. They are in serious need of funding, especially because the agricultural season last year failed as well.

They attributed the failure not only to the lack of rain but also to the insecurity in the region, as many farmers were attacked on their farms last year.

Such attacks make farming a dangerous activity. Of all murders and attacks in South Kordofan that Radio Dabanga has reported on in the past year, especially in the Nuba Mountains, the vast majority of victims were farmers.

People in South Kordofan fear that the Nuba Mountains will become a second Darfur, referring to the violence and genocide against non-Arab sedentary farming tribes.

Source: Radio Dabanga