Author: Web Desk

The Supreme Council of Beja Chiefdoms is preparing to declare civil disobedience in the cities of Port Sudan, Kassala and Gadaref because the government continues to ignore their demands, a leading member said on Monday.

Since 17 September, supporters of the Handawa tribal leader Mohamed Turk have closed Red Sea ports and blocked roads linking the eastern Sudan region with the rest of the country calling to cancel a peace agreement related to the area signed in October 2020.

“We are now going to escalate our actions and close the government establishments including the northern seaport and the customs administration. Also, we will declare civil disobedience in the three eastern cities, ” told the Sudan Tribune Abdallah Obshar, Rapporteur of the Supreme Council of Beja Chiefdoms.

Obshar pointed out that the sit-in continues outside the oil terminal of Bashayer Port, which is used to export South Sudan’s oil.

“The terminal can be closed at any time,” he further warned.

Last week, the protesters agreed to cease obstructing the exportation of South Sudanese oil after a meeting with a government delegation, led by a member of the Sovereign Council, Shams al-Din al-Kabbashi.

The government delegation said it made proposals to end the crisis to the leader of the Hadandawa tribe, who asked him to give him a week to consult with his partners.

But Obshar said that the government delegation did not propose any solutions, but rather listened to their position on how to solve the crisis, and requested a week’s time to study it with the government.

He added they plan to launch civil disobedience and close the Bashaer terminal after the end of the deadline requested by the government delegation.

The tribal leader last month said they wants the cancellation of the eastern Sudan peace deal, the resignation of the Hamdok government and the military takeover of government.

The head of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and member of the Sovereign Council Hadi Idris rejected any attempt to cancel the eastern Sudan deal which is part of the Juba peace agreement.

Idris on Sunday state that the deal provides to hold a conference for all the people of the region, so the tribal leader and his supporters can come to discuss their demands for the region.

The government on Sunday called on the protesters to engage in dialogue to reach a political solution for the eastern Sudan problem.

Also, it said that the country is about to run out of essential medicine, fuel and wheat after the closure of Port Sudan.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan media rights groups condemned comments by a key parliament member who said that news organizations could have their licenses revoked if they report on parliamentary expenditures — including lawmaker salaries — without prior authorization from the speaker.

Paul Youane Bonju, who is the chairperson-designate of the information committee in South Sudan’s reconstituted National Legislative Assembly, said journalists risk being sued if they do not follow what he termed the proper procedure for reporting on lawmakers’ financial transactions.

“Some [reporters] are new in the field and I need to bring them on board by trying to tell them the right procedures if they visit the parliament, because the parliament is a body that enacts laws,” he said in a news conference last week.

“If you are coming to engage with such a body, you must also be conversant of how to go about it,” Bonju said. “In some instances, some of the media, instead of coming to me or going to the office of the clerk, sometimes they contact either the staffs, or they get the information from sources that are not authorized to release some of the information.”

Bonju cited media reports five years ago about $40,000 that was allotted to lawmakers by President Salva Kiir for allowances and car loans.

The reports about the allotment caused a widespread backlash in the world’s newest country, where the government owes many workers back salaries and the average teacher makes less than $400 per year.

Media groups say Bonju’s comments are an attempt to conceal information from the public as South Sudan attempts for forge a shaky democracy.

Micheal Duku, executive director of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan, said parliamentary members cannot stop the media from reporting on their work which is in the public interest.

“The media is regulated by law and when it comes to information that is categorized, there are classified information and unclassified information,” Duku told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. “So long as this falls under unclassified information, the public has the right to know.”

Bonju’s comments come as South Sudan journalists are facing increasing pressures on their reporting.

Three journalists recently were detained, and a radio station was closed as the government clamped down on efforts by activists to stage what they called a peaceful public uprising.

Agents also detained a government broadcaster after he allegedly declined to report news about recent presidential decrees on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation airwaves.

South Sudan ranks 139th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, in which 1 is the freest.

The reconstituted legislature was inaugurated in August this year by Kiir under the leadership of Jemma Nunu Kumba as speaker of the house.

In an interview with South Sudan in Focus, Bonju said his comments were aimed at clarifying parliamentary procedures for press coverage.

“I was telling them, ‘Look, I am not warning you, but I am rather cautioning you to be sure that if you want anything to do with emolument of the MPs, please contact the relevant offices, the relevant departments,'” he said.

Source: Voice Of America

Hadi Idris a Transitional Sovereign Council Member called on Sunday to overcome the political crisis between the Council members saying that it had disrupted the work of the collegial body, and paralyzes other constitutional mechanisms.

Following the failed coup of 21 September, a political crisis erupted between the transitional government components over the stalled implementation of the reforms including the security sector.

“After the coup attempt, polarization and divisions disrupted the meetings of the Sovereign Council, the Security and Defence Council, and the interim parliament,” he disclosed in a press conference on the first anniversary of the Juba Peace Agreement.

He pointed out that this polarization is harmful and will affect the peace implementation process and the achievements of the transitional government, “if it is not resolved.”

The military component in the Sovereign Council suspended the joint meetings with the civilian partners to express their anger from the Council member Mohamed al-Faki who publicly quarrelled with al-Burhanrecently.

Al-Burhan’s Deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo aka “Hemedti” stated that he would not sit with al-Faki at the same table “without reconciliation.”

It was purported that al-Burhan refuses to participate in the meetings of the Sovereign Council or take part in any joint meeting attended by al-Faki and requests to remove him.

Idris commented on the establishment of a new faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) saying the move was inopportune.

However, he admitted the split within the FFC, adding that “those who believe in the revolution and civil democratic transformation will not defect.”

Putschist mentality

In a related development, Siddiq Tawer, a Member of the Sovereign Council on Saturday slammed al-Burhan and his deputy for suspending the meetings of the Council.

Asked by BBC TV Arabic on Saturday about al-Burhan statements that the army is the “Guardian of the revolution”, Tawer said such statements “come from those with a putschist mentality”.

He further condemned the suspensions of the Council meetings adding it was caused by al-Burhan and his deputy Hemetti.

“They must be convinced that things cannot be managed in this way, and they must abide by what is stipulated in the Constitutional Document,” he said after naming them.

He added that this behaviour has no justification and is harmful to the country, which is facing several problems, as he said

Source: Sudan Tribune

Hadi Idris Member of the Sovereign Council and Chairman of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front rejected the cancellation of the Eastern Sudan Agreement.

Idris held a press conference on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), as the country experiences a grave crisis dual crisis.

Some tribal forces reject the peace agreement saying those who signed it do not represent them. On the other side, some signatory groups formed a political alliance challenging the ruling Forces for Freedom and Changes (FFC) which is in discord with the military component over the implementation of the Constitutional Document.

Idris stressed they reject calls to cancel the Juba Agreement for peace in eastern Sudan saying that all tracks have achieved great gains for the citizens.

“The failure to convene the conference on eastern Sudan issues as provided in the Juba Peace Agreement led to the outbreak of the current crisis,” he said.

“The objectors have the right to open negotiations on the agreement to amend it,” he said adding he remains optimistic about the ability to reach a deal satisfying all the parties.

A spokesman for the Sudanese government Sunday announced that the stocks of medicines and intravenous solutions will soon run out.

He expected a severe shortage if the terminals on the Red Seas continue to be closed and termed the port closure as a “crime against millions of Sudanese.”

Since September 17, supporters of the Handawa tribal leader have closed the terminals on the Red Sea and roads linking Khartoum and eastern Sudan, to press the government to cancel the eastern Sudan agreement.

The military component, which controls the security services, refuses to intervene to ensure the transport of vital products saying it is a political matter that the government has to resolve.

Idriss said Juba Agreement has addressed the roots of the Sudanese crisis and stressed his full keenness to work with partners to achieve democratic transformation and stability in Sudan.

Source: Sudan Tribune