Category: General

BRUSSELS— African leaders will meet their European counterparts at a summit to redefine their relationship, even as the continent feels the pain of recent negative policies from Europe.

The meeting, planned for February, will come weeks before the US-Africa summit set to be hosted by US President Joe Biden, and just months after the Forum on China–Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) summit that was held in Senegal in November.

African leaders say financing economies weighed down by the Covid-19 pandemic and debts, and vaccine access, are all critical issues to future engagement with Europe.

Even before they met on Dec 19 in a session hosted by European Council president Charles Michel to prepare the upcoming EU-AU Summit in Brussels on Feb 17-18 next year, several African leaders attended the three-day Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit.

Michel emphasised that the new EU-AU alliance should be based on prosperity, peace and common values, and that the EU supports a holistic approach to strengthen African health systems and vaccine production.

Among the participants were President of Senegal Macky Sall, AU Commission president Moussa Faki, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, European Investment Bank president Werner Hoyer and OIF Secretary-General Louise Mushikiwabo.

At the Turkey-Africa summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged common development and prosperity, as well as to help address “the global injustice and victimisation of Africa in terms of access to vaccines”, in an attempt to leverage on the longstanding grudge over alleged bias in vaccine distribution that pitted Africa against the West.

African governments continued to push for the waiver of intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines to enable the continent to produce the much-needed doses to speed up inoculation.

The continent equally seeks to use engagements with the EU to secure a chunk of the bloc’s reserves at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, a move that could see more than $100 billion sent to cash-strapped governments on the continent.

Other global powers like China, Japan, India, the US, and Russia continue to woo Africa with goodies, investments, trade and co-operation deals across sectors.

Their actions appear to be the scramble for influence on the continent which is a critical source of natural resource reserves, and a consumer market for their products.

The EU has offered to mobilise up to $340 billion worth of investments as part of its Global Gateway strategy between 2021 and 2027.

The bloc promises to support African health systems and vaccine production, and investments in areas such as climate and energy, transport, education and research.

EU indicates that the European Investment Bank and the co-operation agencies of France, Spain and Germany signed a $113.3 million credit line to support African small and medium businesses to recover from the pandemic and to take on growth opportunities from the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The bloc equally pledges to mobilise $2.7 billion in grants for sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, it has pledged more than $1.1 billion to North Africa to support renewable energy and the production of hydrogen, which can help meet the EU’s projected demand for clean energy.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

A curfew came into effect in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher yesterday at 18:00 and continued until 05:00 today, in accordance with a decision of the North Darfur Security Committee after widespread looting of a warehouse of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), that followed the looting of the former African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) logistical base north of El Fasher last weekend.

North Darfur Police Director and State Security Committee Rapporteur, Major General Abdelkarim Hamdo, called on the people to adhere to the daily curfew from 18:00 in order to preserve their lives. He said that the state security committee prepared at the same time a plan to secure strategic and vital facilities in the state

Mohamed Abdelkarim, head of the National Umma Party in North Darfur, warned of the danger of a series of attacks and looting on the headquarters of UNAMID and the World Food Programme in El Fasher, to markets, shops and banks.

He told Radio Dabanga from El Fasher yesterday that what is happening now in El Fasher, in terms of security chaos and looting of the headquarters of UNAMID and the World Food Programme, clearly represents the weakness of the ruling authority at all levels, and that the matter is planned and programmed. He explained that the general feeling of the citizen in El Fasher is that this series can be transmitted to the markets and banks at any moment.

Abdelkarim held the authorities fully responsible for what was happening, noting that the vehicles and counters were looted in broad daylight using large cranes and in front of the authorities’ eyes.

He said that the chaos in El Fasher now is due to the large number of armed militias and the multiplicity of undisciplined forces. He told Radio Dabanga that the security chaos and looting were carried out by these forces.

He called on the authorities to control these forces and to put any person outside the law in their aid, and warned against lawlessness and total chaos if urgent measures were not taken to put an end to this lawlessness.

Well-informed sources in El Fasher assert that the real looting of the headquarters of UNAMID took place in an organised and orderly manner three months ago by official authorities.

Activist Fatima Fadul told Radio Dabanga that the official looting of the mission headquarters in El Fasher began after the replacement of the governor of the state, Nimir Abdelrahman, the forces that were present with others.

She explained that an armed movement was accused of the looting of the mission headquarters, while an armed force led by a man calling himself Eisa El Maseeh (Jesus the Messiah), was accused of looting the stores of the World Food Programme, according to the testimony of the governor of the state.

Fadul said she expects the armed groups to attack markets and banks in El Fasher in the coming days.

In addition, sources warned of a health and environmental disaster in the region due to the waste left by the mission at the headquarters. Activist Fatima Fadul told Radio Dabanga that the people stormed the warehouses that contained the remnants of UNAMID batteries and equipment that posed a threat to human health, as well as indications of the danger of the warehouses that had been hit with weapons.

In this context, lawyers and human rights advocates called on the international bodies, in coordination with UNITAMS and the Government of Sudan, to intervene urgently to protect the headquarters of international organizations and institutions in Darfur in an urgent manner that does not accept delay so that the situation does not get out of control after the complete looting of the UNAMID mission and the warehouses of the World Food Programme in El Fasher by regular forces, rebel fighters and citizens.

Lawyer and human rights defender Jibril Hasabo said that urgent action to protect these decisions is necessary now so that the organizations that provide aid and protection to the people of Darfur are reassured. Hasabo said that the complete looting of the WFP stores in El Fasher will affect the displaced in the camps who receive services and aid from the programme, and it will also affect the security and safety of people, and in particular the displaced in El Fasher and the whole of Darfur.

He described what happened as a dangerous indicator of what will follow and cause panic and anxiety among international organizations working to ease the crisis and humanitarian aid in Darfur.

The General Coordination of the Camps for the Displaced and Refugees strongly condemned the looting of the headquarters of the UNAMID mission in the past, and the headquarters of the World Food Programme (WFP) in El Fasher.

In a statement yesterday, the Coordination holds the Sudanese government, its militias of various names, and the armed movements that signed the Juba Peace Agreement responsibility for the ongoing insecurity in the cities and localities of Darfur, especially the headquarters of the UNAMID mission previously, and the headquarters of the World Food Programme in El Fasher.

In the statement, the official spokesperson for the Coordination, Adam Rujal, called on the UN Security Council and the Troika countries to take serious and decisive decisions to protect the displaced and defenceless people in Darfur, and to immediately send an international force under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, to make peace, for the sake of humanity only to save the lives of the remaining victims of the genocide in Darfur.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The Darfur Bar Association reports that it has received 30 complaints of sexual harassment, including 16 complaints of rape, allegedly perpetrated by security forces in Khartoum during the suppression of the Marches of the Millions in Sudan on Saturday, December 25. Three complaints of rape were laid by young men, and 13 confirmed cases by women.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga that will be broadcast today, Lawyer Nafeesa Hajar, deputy head of the Darfur Bar Association (DBA), says that official complaints have been filed, in part in coordination with the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.

She also indicated that they received many complaints of severe beatings of women, robberies, and theft of mobile phones and valuables.

She further said that in Khartoum, the security forces detained a large number of minors during the marches, seven of whom were basic school students. They were subjected to severe beatings, which led to the sever injury of two of them in Hillet Koko, and Haj Yousef in Khartoum North; one of them in the head, and the other in the eye with swelling in the legs. A third minor, held in Omdurman, sustained injuries to the chest and lower back, and was taken to a police cell despite his critical health condition, with a threat to his mother.

In El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, seven basic school students were put on trial for their participation in the demonstrations, however the judge dismissed the complaints against them.

Four women students in Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, were severely beaten by a police officer.

Hajar estimates that at least 100 people have been detained since Saturday. Members of the Emergency Lawyers are going around the sections in Haj Youssef to find out the total number of detainees there, and to provide aid and assistance to release them.

She pointed out that minors are still being detained in police stations, which were overcrowded with detainees without providing any services, water nor food. She said that the detainees were subjected to severe beatings and thefts, which even included their shoes, so that the lawyers donated to buy plastic slippers to take them to their homes after their release.

‘Frenzied campaign’

As reported by Radio Dabanga this week, A litany of other violations has been reported during the Marches of the Millions in Sudan on Saturday, with forces raiding hospitals and neighbourhoods, in what the Sudanese Professionals Association called “a frenzied campaign”.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors reported that at least 235 demonstrators were injured. Most of the injuries, 173, occurred in Khartoum, as Sudanese security forces responded to the anti-coup demonstrations with volleys of live ammunition, tear gas, and stun grenades, as protestors converged on the Republican Palace.

Source: Radio Dabanga

A warehouse of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, was subjected to looting by large crowds of people on Tuesday evening, despite attempts by police to prevent the theft. The looting was reportedly initiated by armed men using six four-wheel drive vehicles, after which members of the public joined the free-for-all. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan has condemned the theft of “food assistance meant for Sudan’s most vulnerable people”.

Witnesses from El Fasher told Radio Dabanga that the police shot into the air to stop the crowds from looting food and relief items in WFP warehouse No. 3, that faces the El Fasher Stock Exchange, east of the Children’s Hospital. Despite of the police action, the looting continued, and the crowds were seen carrying sacks of goods on carts and loaded onto draught animals.

In a press statement today, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Khardiata Lo N’Diaye condemns the looting. “The United Nations and humanitarian partners are extremely concerned about the reports from North Darfur that humanitarian assets came under attack. This was food assistance meant for Sudan’s most vulnerable people. Humanitarian assistance should never be a target,” said Lo N’Diaye.

The coordinator points out that “one in three people in Sudan needs humanitarian assistance. Such an attack severely impedes our ability to deliver to the people who need it the most. We urgently ask all parties to adhere to humanitarian principles and allow the safe delivery of life-saving assistance.”

According to initial reports, the WFP warehouse contained up to 1,900 tonnes of food, meant for hundreds of thousands of food-insecure people in that area. This comes amid unprecedented funding shortfalls for WFP, estimated at US$358 million. As of 29 December, the security situation had been restored, according to state authorities, the UN coordinator’s statement says.

“We are grateful to the local authorities for intervening and preventing the situation from worsening. However, we call upon the government of Sudan to step up efforts to protect and safeguard humanitarian premises and assets throughout Sudan” she concluded.

An estimated 14.3 million people in Sudan are need humanitarian assistance according to the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan, of which 25 per cent require food security and livelihoods support.

Looting

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, police in North Darfur say that they have arrested two suspects, after buildings and containers of equipment at the former African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) logistical base north of the capital El Fasher, were looted on Friday and Saturday. The suspects were reportedly held with part of the loot in their possession.

The northern part of the UNAMID Super Camp was handed over to the North Darfur state authorities last week by Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG), and Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Khardiata Lo N’Diaye. During the handover, Lo N’Diaye underlined the importance of continued support to the UNAMID liquidation team, and highlighted the need for the camp and the facilities within it to be used for the benefit of the people of Darfur.

The ongoing insecurity in Darfur, often partly exacerbated by the vacuum created by the UNAMID drawdown, has meant that the practicalities of the handover of UNAMID sites and facilities have not always gone as planned.

On June 5, two people were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a former UNAMID site in Shangil Tobaya, Dar El Salaam locality, south of El Fasher in North Darfur was looted.

The site was handed over to the Government of Sudan on May 25. It was the last of 14 deep field sites handed over to the Sudanese government. At the time, the North Darfur government and the Sudanese government’s joint task force strongly reconfirmed their commitment to ensure civilian use of the former site.

Since the mission ended its mandate at the end of last year, various former UNAMID sites handed over to local authorities to be used as schools or training centres, have been looted. In February, a site in North Darfur’s Saraf Omra that was earmarked for use as a vocational training centre was looted and ‘levelled’ just weeks after it was handed over to the Sudanese government.

Source: Radio Dabanga

Four children were abducted and a woman critically injured in a road attack armed men in Pochalla South County of Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) on Tuesday.

The county commissioner, Peter Ogalla Ochudho, told Radio Tamazuj that the incident occurred when the group of women and their children were waylaid by the assailants in the outskirts of Akila Payam headquarters, Okadi, on Tuesday afternoon.

“The incident occurred at about 1 pm when the group of women was moving from Lurdook to Ollam to receive food supplements for their malnourished children were attacked by Murle criminals, “Ogalla said. “Four children were abducted and one woman stabbed with a knife.”

The county commissioner pointed out that local youths are still pursuing the attackers in a bid to recover the abductees.

Amati Ochan, the county police inspector condemned the incident and said policemen and local youths have been dispatched to Okadi to help recover the abducted children.

“They were going to get food for their children and there were no armed men with them,” Ochan said. “The youth are following them and I have also sent the police to recover the children.”

For his part, Jay Adingora Alual, the GPAA information minister, also condemned the incident and he said that the local authorities have been directed to hunt down the abductors.

‘The incident occurred at Okadi. Those criminals who are suspected to be from Murle took four children and beat up women,” Minister Alual said. “The chief administrator has directed the local authorities to search for the criminals. But the problem is that of a lack of enough security forces.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj