Category: General

A senior government official was waylaid and killed near his house by armed bandits in the Wikol area of Uror County, Jonglei State on Saturday, officials said.

“The incident took place on Saturday at 3 pm. The deceased Gatjang Bol Kuanen was killed near his house while on his way back. Until his death, Gatjang was the administrator for Wikol Payam,” Tang Chatim, Uror County Commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj.

Chatim claimed the killing was carried out by suspected cattle raiders.

For his part, Lt. Col. Gatbel Machar, a county police inspector said no one was arrested but that the attackers were identified as cattle raiders because one of them was killed during a fire exchange with the community of the deceased administrator.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

Health workers at Malakal Teaching Hospital, the main referral facility in Upper State capital, Malakal town have since last week partially laid down tools to protest poor working conditions.

The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Khat Deng, told Radio Tamazuj Sunday that they went on strike since Friday because the resources needed to keep the facility operational are lacking.

“We have been on a strike for the last two days; the strike is partial because we respond to emergency cases. We went on strike because we are not able to do our work due to the lack of patient cards, drugs bags, and electricity, “Dr. Khat said. “And again, we have been paid incentives for a month but that is not a big concern because we are here for the locals.”

Another medical doctor, Joseph Kuol, said they will not resume until their demands are met, arguing, “We are even running out of drugs. For these available ones, we just wrapped in a paper and give to a patient which is not good we are increasing infection risk. We also lack mere papers for taking patient history.”

Meanwhile, Chagai Lual, the health director at Malakal Municipality, decried a dire health situation which he blamed on the lack of health support and supplies and called on the government and health agencies operating in the country to intervene.

For his part, Piot Aben Gac, the state health ministry’s human resources manager, admitted the hospital is partially closed because doctors are not able to dispense work due to the lack of funds.

The health ministry official called on the national government and aid agencies to intervene saying the state government resources are overstretched to adequately meet the growing health needs.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

At least 12 people, including seven children from one family, were killed in a boat accident in the Kaka Tijaria area of Manyo County, Upper Nile State on Sunday.

An official of the local boat union said the boat with 28 passengers on board and headed to Malakal, sank in the Nyanwar area.

William Omay, head of the River Boats Association in Renk County, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that the ill-fated boat moved from a landing site in Al-Geger, north of Renk town, and was heading to Malakal town with a load of 350 bags of sorghum and 13 passengers, according to the passenger manifest.

He denied that the union knew about the other 16 passengers.

“What happened on Sunday was a very tragic boat accident. The boat was traveling from Geger, loaded with 350 bags of sorghum and 13 passengers who were listed on the manifest in Geger,” Omay explained. “When the boat reached Nyanwa, it sank. We are still collecting information, but we heard that 12 people died, including 7 children.”

He added: “We are still following up to get concrete information. One of our officials has gone to the scene to collect the facts. We learned that there are 16 survivors and were told that the boat was overloaded and there were also high winds which made it sink.”

Omay said the body of a child was found in the boat in the Kit Guang area.

For his part, Joseph William, the police boss in Kaka Tijaria, confirmed the accident and said they received a report late on Sunday evening that a boat sank in the Nyanwar area and the police evacuated 16 survivors from the scene of the accident.

The police said preliminary information indicates that high winds caused the accident and that efforts are underway to search for the missing people.

According to the survivors, 12 people, including children, women, and the crew of the boat are still missing.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The South Sudan Airline Operators Union (SSAOU) is calling on the government of South Sudan to call off the ban on Antonov planes citing a looming humanitarian crisis in parts of Greater Upper Nile and Barh El Ghazal areas.

SSAOU Secretary-General for information and CEO and Managing Director for Optimum Aviation, Kat Monyjok, says the ban has led to a lack of transportation of goods and supplies to far-flung areas not accessible by road.

“The messages that we are receiving from the areas outside Juba such as Yida, and Renk, our civil population there is crying because there is no means of transport that could take goods to those affected locations. Like the entire Upper Nile, and also some parts of Barh El Ghazal and Unity States including the three administrative areas they are highly affected and they don’t have means of transport to take the cargoes there,” Monyjok echoed.

He insists that Antonovs remain a major means of transport in most parts of the country due to the poor road network in the country.

“The reason as to why we (operators) are using the Antonovs is because we as a country don’t have an alternative and a solution. We don’t have good roads to go to these areas and we don’t have any other means of transport apart from the air transport,” Monyjok added.

The SSAOU official says the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) should have studied the repercussions of a ban before taking the decision and put in place alternative plans.

“What Civil Aviation should have done was to come up with the mechanisms not to ban the Antonov but to look into the mechanisms on how to ensure that the safety standards are maintained but not actually to ban them because what option do they have? Surely if these Antonovs continue to be grounded for the next few days, the effect will be massive,” he said.

Monyjok calls on the CAA to allow Antonovs to resume operations as they institute proper standard measures.

“I would request the South Sudan Civil Aviation to first give time to the current Antonovs to operate. In the meantime, as they come up with the best ways and mitigations on how best to reduce these accidents in conjunction with the operators like us to first set certain standards and regulations,” he advised. “And use that time to transform some of the airstrips that we have so that they can be able to accommodate other different types of aircraft.”

Justine Nyama Amos, an official from Sun Air Aviation company said, the ban on the Antonovs has created gaps in the air transport business.

“This decision by the government has created a gap and this has affected our business. Antonovs are very effective and fuel-efficient and can land on dangerous airstrips given the current situation of most airstrips we have in South Sudan,” Nyama said.

He said the air transport business has been affected as customers fear that all aircraft are grounded.

“Business has dropped a little bit because of the news we hear outside,” adds Nyama.

The CAA, on 10th November 2021, banned all Antonov planes from operating in the country citing a lack of proper maintenance and registration documents.

The decision came days after an Antonov 26 plane operated by Optimum Aviation crashed in the Gondokoro area adjacent to Juba International Airport killing five crew members after takeoff.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

A cross-section of women representatives from the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly Monday commenced a five-day parliamentary exchange and learning visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi to share experiences and learn skills from their counterparts there.

Speaking during the opening of the event, South Sudan’s parliamentary affairs minister, Mary Mawai, said the women of South Sudan worked hard to get the 35 percent for women’s affirmative action.

“Maybe you might have heard that we have 35 percent affirmative action for women in South Sudan, it was not just given to them, they worked had to deserve it, during the war women contributed a lot,” Minister Mawai said.

She added: “They were taking care of the families and making some shelters to accommodate them, providing health services in terms of nursing wounded soldiers and even cultivating to get food, and mobilizing food to send to our soldiers.”

The parliamentary affairs minister explained that when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was being negotiated in 2005, women pushed for affirmative action to be enshrined in the constitution and by then it was 25 percent.

“When they negotiated peace in 2005, that time women pushed for their percentage to be enshrined in the constitution and it was 25 percent,” Mawai said. “As conflicts continued in South Sudan, our contribution was also there for peace implementation and as such, we have added another percentage, we are now at 35 percent for women affirmative action.”

For his part, the undersecretary in the parliamentary affairs ministry, Kutiyote James Francis, appreciated the Kenyan government for allowing them to learn and that the acquired knowledge will be put to good use back in South Sudan.

“For us in South Sudan, we come from a very challenging background already and we want to learn, we want to have ideas, we want to have that knowledge that can help transform the system into a very strong system that can help build the country because we rely on our friend across the region,” Kutiyote said.

UN Women’s program officer for peace and security, Shukuria Syed, said that her organization is always there to empower women in South Sudan for good governance.

“UN Women is always ready to empower women leaders in South Sudan for good governance and I request my colleagues to take this opportunity very seriously so that we can learn,” Syed said. “I will be there with you to help you implement whatever we take from here.”

One of the participants, Monica Juan, said appreciated UN Women and CEPO for the workshop and that she has learned the procedures to be followed by parliamentarians.

“We are supposed to know more about the system of the government and also about our rights as a women member of parliament,” Juan said.

The workshop was organized by UN Women and facilitated by CEPO.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The authorities in Sudan continue to block social networking sites for the fifth day in a row, after restoring internet services after a junta-enforced outage that lasted more than three weeks. Users have told Radio Dabanga that they have to use VPN services to access the blocked networks, especially WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter.

They explained that the bypass applications such as VPN consume significant bandwidth, which leads to an increase in the cost of using the internet.

Others, who did not have to use a VPN, complained that the credit they had bought for one month, before the blackout that started on the day of the coup on October 25, has expired, and they had to purchase credit again.

The NetBlocks organisation, which monitors the use of the Internet, said that blocking social media for 29 days limits the public’s ability to participate online, noting that social media is a vital component of a free and just society.

The internet blockade shut down most data traffic in the country following the military coup led by Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan that seized power on October 25. Internet services were gradually restored following court rulings.

Critics and activists cautioned that the blackout is being used as a smokescreen to hide atrocities committed by the army and paramilitary forces in support of the military coup.

Source: Radio Dabanga