Author: Web Desk

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali arrived in Khartoum yesterday for a short visit to Sudan. There, he spoke with Sudanese leaders about political issues concerning both countries, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), border demarcations, and Sudan’s political transition.

The Ethiopian Prime Miniter was accompanied by the Ministers of Defence, Peace and Interior Affairs, the Government Communications Office, the Ethiopian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser, and the Director of Ethiopian Intelligence.

Abiy spoke with Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and held a meeting with the Vice-President of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo.

In a statement, Sudan’s Sovereignty Council said that the talks during the visit were concerned with “ways to strengthen and enhance bilateral relations”.

Political transition

During his talks with Lt Gen El Burhan, Abiy said that his one-day visit to Khartoum aims to express solidarity with Sudan at this crucial political stage, referring to current negotiations on a democratic transition agreement.

During his visit, the Ethiopian PM said on social media: “I’m pleased to come back again and be amidst the wise and vibrant people of Sudan. My appreciation to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for the warm welcome”.

“Ethiopia continues to stand in solidarity with Sudan in their current self-led political process,” he added.

Abiy said that he did not present new proposals for the current political process during his meeting with Sudanese political parties and stressed that he is confident in the ability of the Sudanese to overcome their political issues autonomously.

‘Ethiopia continues to stand in solidarity with Sudan in their current self-led political process’ – PM Abiy Ahmed

During his meeting with the Ethiopian Prime Minister at the Republican Palace, Hemeti confirmed his commitment to implement agreements to achieve stability in the country and the need for the parties to cooperate in implementing the Framework Agreement to overcome the political crisis and complete the transitional period.

During his meeting with a delegation from the Liaison and External Relations Committee of the Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC) at the Republican Palace, the Ethiopian PM expressed his support for everything that the people of Sudan agree upon and said he will support the result of the negotiations.

El Wasig El Bereir, Secretary-General of the National Umma Party (NUP) and member of the Executive Bureau of the FFC-CC, said in a press statement after the meeting that Abiy Ahmed stressed the importance of the process being entirely Sudanese without allowing any external party to interfere or impose any solutions.

He said that the PM called for the speedy completion of the political process and welcomed the upcoming visit of an FFC-CC delegation to Ethiopia.

Mediator role

Journalist, political analyst, and newly elected Chair of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate Abdelmonim Abu Idris told Radio Dabanga that the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister comes at a time of competition between Ethiopia and Egypt over the Sudanese transition, pointing out that the visit is linked to Egypt’s initiative to host Sudanese negotiations Cairo in February.

The signatories of the agreement, led by the FFC-CC, rejected the Egyptian initiative because the dialogue process on the remaining five issues “cannot be changed at the last moment”.

Abu Idris explained that Abiy ‘s visit to Khartoum is likened to the role of the Sudan Quartet (USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and UK), especially since he visited the UAE before his visit to Khartoum.

He expected the visit to lead to a breakthrough in the political process, pointing out that the Ethiopian move is based on a previous legacy represented in the mediation that led to the signing of the 2019 Constitutional Document by the military and the FFC, after which the government of PM Abdallah Hamdok was formed.

He considered Ahmed’s announcement that he did not propose a specific mediation as ‘a well-known Ethiopian tactic’ that was used during the mediation that led to the signing of the Constitutional Document.

He did not rule out that the Ethiopian Prime Minister proposed the return of Hamdok to the position of prime minister, especially because of Hamdok’s close relations with Ethiopia and understanding of its political context.

GERD

The PM stressed that the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will not cause any harm to Sudan but will allow the country to benefit from the dam’s electricity. El Burhan confirmed that Sudan and Ethiopia are compatible and in agreement on all issues of the Renaissance Dam.

Sudan expressed its hopes the dam will regulate the annual rainy season floods and generate electricity but, in the past, has also voiced fears that its population’s safety, water supply, and its own dams will suffer from the GERD if there is no proper agreement.

Border demarcations

With regard to the issue of border demarcations between the two countries, Abiy said that it is an old issue and documents on the issue need to be consulted. The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council affirmed that documents, technical committees, and dialogue represent the basis of the demarcation process.

The 1,600 kilometres border between Sudan and Ethiopia was drawn in colonial times. No clear demarcation of the border has been made since Sudan became independent in 1956. The lack of clear border markers has made it easy for Ethiopian militants to occupy fertile farmlands in eastern El Gedaref.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid in South Kordofan, Rawya Kamal Abdelkarim, banned the movement and traffic of aid organisations to and from South Kordofan yesterday until further notice after several violent incidents.

The decision follows the declaration of the State of Emergency, now active in the state for one month, in order to preserve the security and safety of the organisations’ staff.

Acting Governor of South Kordofan Mousa Jabor Mahmoud declared a State of Emergency in the entire state for a month after four people were killed earlier this week.

Despite the restriction of movement, Abdelkarim called for the continuation of existing activities by organisations within the towns and for the continued delivery of emergency services.

The decision further excludes United Nations air traffic to and from Kadugli, she explained.

Road closure after conflict

Yesterday morning, traffic movement returned to the Delling-Kadugli road.

The road between Delling and Kadugli in South Kordofan was closed for three days, after a conflict between the El Ghulfan and Dar Naila tribes following cattle rustling in which a young man from Dar Naila was killed.

In response to his death, Dar Naila tribesmen seized a number of young men from the El Ghulfan and their motorcycles. They were released on Wednesday, a source from the governor’s press office reported.

The release happened after two-days-long joint efforts led by Acting Governor Mahmoud in coordination with the South Kordofan Security Committee, notables, and native administration leaders of the El Ghulfan and the El Hawazma Dar Naila, with the assistance of the Delling and Habila security committees.

Source: Radio Dabanga

Areas in Halayeb and Jubeit El Ma’aden in the northern part of Red Sea state are witnessing tensions due to the behaviour of mining companies. The El Bishariyin Youth Secretariat is ‘ready’ to escalate protests.

The El Bishariyin Youth Secretariat said in a statement yesterday that the residents of the Talat Abeda area in Jubeit El Ma’aden locality closed the offices of the Meyas Sand Gold Project.

The Meyas Sand Gold Project is owned by the Meyas Sand Mineral Company Ltd., of which 70 per cent is owned by Perseus Mining since May last year. That 70 per cent of shares were previously owned by Orca Gold Inc before Perseus took over.

The activists claim that the gold mining company has not obtained a permit to work from the Red Sea state government and demand the removal of the company.

They are also protesting because of the company’s refusal to provide social responsibility services.

The El Bishariyin Youth Secretariat further condemned the dispatch of a police force to protect a mining company in Halayeb locality, days after the miners were sent away by the people of the region.

The youth organisation declared its “unanimous support of the people living in the Is area” and its readiness to help escalate the protests.

Recent protest

Various areas in Sudan have recently witnessed protests against mining activities, often because of the use of highly toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide but also because of the lack of opportunities the companies provide to the local community.

In a recent report tracing anti-mining protests by Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker (STPT), respected Sudan conflict resolution analyst Dr Suliman Baldo called out “the capture of local resources by a powerful and kleptocratic central state and its commercial partners”.

In September 2019, Director of Exploration of the Sudanese Mining Resources Company Naji Mahmoud also claimed that there are 424 mining companies in Sudan that are owned by members of the ousted Al Bashir regime.

Another recent report on mercury poisoning in Sudan, also by the STPT, points out that “years of indiscriminate use of dangerous chemicals such as mercury, cyanide, and thiourea without protective measures for miners or local populations has exposed millions of citizens across Sudan to lethal risks”.

People in the Red Sea state capital of Port Sudan lament that their drinking water supply is at risk.

Activist Ali Mohamed told Radio Dabanga two weeks ago that the currently available water resources are not reliable, especially with the growth of the city and the increase in population density.

“We need to find alternatives to the current sources that depend on water from basins. These basins are threatened with pollution due to mining activities, which have witnessed a significant increase in recent times.”

Source: Radio Dabanga

The review of the Juba Peace Agreement scheduled to take place on Tuesday may be delayed, says Malik Agar, member of the Sovereignty Council and head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Revolutionary Front faction in the Blue Nile region. People in Darfur and South Kordofan doubt about the success of the new peace conference.

Agar also said that the South Sudanese mediation team of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), signed by the Sudanese government and members of the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance on October 3, 2020, has planned two workshops on the implementation of the agreement for the 13 signatories in February.

The contents and implementation schedule of the JPA are first to be discussed in a dialogue conference, organised by the AU-IGAD-UNITAMS Trilateral Mechanism in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Tuesday. About 400 people, including displaced and other victims of armed conflicts I the country, will participate in the conference.

The review of the JPA is part of the political process the military junta and more than 40 political parties and civil society groups agreed upon in the Framework Agreement signed on December 5 last year.

Under the umbrella of the Forces of Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC), the civilian signatories of the Framework Agreement would organise dialogue conferences on five important but contentious issues to be agreed on. The outcomes of the conferences would be incorporated in a Final Agreement with the military, after which a civilian government of technocrats can be formed. This transitional government is to organise general elections after two years.

The first conference, on the empowerment removal process, concluded in Khartoum on January 12. As the four other issues appeared to be too complex for the FFC-CC alliance and affiliates to agree on, it was decided to postpone ‘military and security reform’ and ‘(transitional) justice’ until after the formation of the new transitional government. The Trilateral Mechanism brokering the dialogues would take over the organisation of the conferences on ‘the JPA’ and ‘eastern Sudan’.

Malik Agar told Radio Dabanga’s Sudan Today programme on Thursday that he rules out that the JPA conference will take place on January 31, “because the joint committee concerned with approving the submitted papers and identifying the participants has not been formed yet”.

He said that “the conference, if convened, will be incomplete due to the non-participation of a number of JPA signatories” and called for delaying the dialogue “until the the hold-out groups have been persuaded to participate in the workshop”.

On the other hand, he played down the importance of the conference. “The Framework Agreement guidelines concerning the conference are limited to ensuring the implementation of the peace agreement and mobilising support for it.”

As for the Eastern Sudan protocol of the JPA, he said it was agreed that “the gains of the 2020 peace agreement will be preserved”.

Separate workshop

Agar further reported that the South Sudanese mediation team has invited all the 14 signatories to the JPA, including the government to a two-part workshop in Juba in February.

“The Juba workshop consists of two meetings. The first, for the mediators, is scheduled for 10 to 13 February, and the second, for the signatories, from 15 to 18 February,” he said. “The outcomes of the workshop will be announced in the presence of the presidents of the two countries.”

He explained that the South Sudanese mediation team is “the only body that can bring the peace parties together. The FFC alliance does not have the right to do so because it is not a government agency”.

Tuesday

Khaled Omar Yousef, FFC-CC spokesperson for the current political process, said in a press statement in Khartoum on Thursday that the Trilateral Mechanism will officially invite the participants for the conferences on the JPA and Eastern Sudan Governance in the coming days.

The dialogue on the JPA will start on Tuesday, he said. “The Trilateral Mechanism is working to complete the arrangements to ensure that the conference is carried out in the best way, to ensure comprehensiveness and to remove obstacles to the implementation of the peace agreement.”

The politician further reported “ongoing discussions with all the forces of the revolution, from civil society activists, members of resistance committees, and other pro-democracy groups, in order to find formulas for understanding the project proposed for the transition period”.

Stakeholders

The opinions of people living in “areas of conflict” concerning the upcoming JPA conference are not unanimously positive.

Ishag Mohamed Abdallah, Sheikh of Kalma camp in South Darfur, which is one of the largest camps for displaced people in Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that they have not consulted, “not for the peace conference nor for the Juba Peace Agreement”.

He said that he holds the organising parties responsible “for their narrow selection of the representatives of the Darfur displaced”, and renewed his rejection of the JPA, “because it has not brought us anything. The insecurity even increased after the signing”.

Sheikh Abdelrazeg from Central Darfur does not believe that “this useless peace conference will bring about useful outcomes”, like “the JPA Juba, which is just ink on paper, did not stop the violence”.

Nadya and Husniya, displaced women activists in West and Central Darfur respectively, also pointed to the continuation of insecurity after the agreement. “The JPA does not represent the displaced,” Nadya said. “Therefore, we are not concerned with its review.”

The head of the Menawashi camps in South Darfur, Sheikh Hammad, said that they did not hear about the holding of the conference “except through news from Radio Dabanga”.

Sheikh Mahjoub Tabaldiya, head of the El Salam camp in South Darfur told Radio Dabanga that he is ready to attend the workshop when he receives an invitation. He called on the displaced “to participate in the conference so their concerns will be heard”.

Displaced community leaders in Darfur told Radio Dabanga in October 2021, one year after the signing of the JPA, that “not even one per cent of the agreement has been implemented so far.”

People in South Kordofan are critical as well. “The entire political process is exclusive and elitist,” El Deret Ismail told Radio Dabanga. She called for the participation of “much more Sudanese people from all levels of society in the political and peace processes”.

Ibrahim Ismail pointed to the deteriorating security situation in South Kordofan, Blue Nile region, and Darfur. “Such conferences do not fulfil the aspirations of the people living in areas of conflict,” he said. “Peace can only be achieved by collective will.”

Women activist Entisar Adam agreed. “In most cases, workshops on peace do not serve peace issues at all. When the roots of the problems of Sudan are not addressed, logical solutions will never be found,” she argued. “We need to learn to accept each other to achieve a real and sustainable peace.”

Hold-out groups

Ahmed Abdelrahman Jedda, member of the FFC-DB alliance, founded by rebel movements that signed the JPA and the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), in early November last year, told Radio Dabanga that the members, including the eastern Sudanese High Beja Council wing chaired by Sayed Tirik, “unanimously decided” to boycott the conference in Juba.

“If they want to organise a productive dialogue, they should go to the conflict areas in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile region, and sit with the people there,” he said.

He repeated what Jibril Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and Minni Minawi, head of a split-off faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, earlier stated: “A review of the JPA means changing the agreement, and it is not allowed to change even one letter in the agreement unless all stakeholders are involved”.

Source: Radio Dabanga