Good People,
Big No people.............!!!South Sudan people need peace. They do not need stinky and stench of Museveni. Doesnt he get it???
Instead, Museveni is the instigating problem in the Great Lakes of East Africa including the whole of Africa. If he continues pestering people like this, he must be beaten up thoroughly. All people of the world must come together to deal with this monster. Together with both the local and exiled Ugandans we all must form a formidable and predominant consolidated pressure to campain and remove Museveni from power. He is too greedy and will never get satisfied even when his stomach is about to burst open. After all he is not even a Ugandan, he was not even born in Uganda. I am sick and tired of this Museveni. Bure kabisa....
All African women of the world should come out and curse this man to hell until he goes blind.............Let him see nothing other than the dead he massacred, exterminated and killed from his excessive greed. See, he is the one pressurizing Kiir from releasing the political prisoners because Museveni's Army had killed these people, they are not there, reason why his bottom is tight and he says he cant get sleep, he is seeing their ghosts people, they are bothering him........This man is doomed.........
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com/
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com/
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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Africa j bwamkuu
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com; NGO afya club NGO
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 5:50 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] Museveni and controversial letter : Urais na Uhuni
From: Africa j bwamkuu
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com; NGO afya club NGO
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 5:50 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] Museveni and controversial letter : Urais na Uhuni
PARLIAMENT- President Museveni is seeking retrospective authority from MPs to deploy Ugandan troops for “peacekeeping or peace enforcement” in South Sudan.
This comes amidst controversy over a letter the President wrote to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to recall Parliament from recess over the Juba matter.
This comes amidst controversy over a letter the President wrote to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to recall Parliament from recess over the Juba matter.
In a December 24, 2013 letter, the President told Ms Kadaga that given the importance of South Sudan to peace in northern Uganda, DRC and CAR, “Uganda cannot and should not stand aloof and watch the situation deteriorating”.
However, although the President’s letter appears to have been written on December 24, 2013, it bears a stamp of the Speaker’s office showing it was received on January 9, 2014.
This was a day after the Speaker had written to the Ministry of Defence, asking them to avail her the relevant information regarding the UPDF deployment in South Sudan to enable her recall Parliament from recess to ratify the deployment.
This was a day after the Speaker had written to the Ministry of Defence, asking them to avail her the relevant information regarding the UPDF deployment in South Sudan to enable her recall Parliament from recess to ratify the deployment.
It is not clear why a letter by the President to the Speaker on an urgent matter such as this would take two weeks before it is delivered.
Detractors claim the President’s letter was a panic response, which was perhaps back-dated to defeat Parliament’s accusation that the commander-in-chief had deployed troops in a foreign country without leave of Parliament as required by the Constitution.
In her letter to Defence ministry, Ms Kadaga had written that she would be grateful if she received the required information not later than January 13.
MPs led by Paul Mwiru (Jinja East) and Hassan Kaps Fungaroo (Obongi County) last week sought an emergency recall of Parliament to debate the UPDF deployment in South Sudan and several MPs had signed the recall petition.
On Thursday, Ms Kadaga was quoted on TV saying State House was acting in bad faith by trying to portray that the President had long informed her to recall Parliament but she had been delaying the process.
On the same day, Parliament’s Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, which had convened to seek an explanation from Defence minister Crispus Kiyonga degenerated into a shouting match between opposition MPs and some of their NRM counterparts after the minister failed to show up and instead junior Defence minister Jeje Odongo pleaded for more time to return to the committee to explain the Juba deployments.
Describing South Sudan as “our brotherly country”, the President said he had initially deployed a small force to guard Juba airport in agreement with President Salva Kiir and other leaders, but added that he was considering deploying more troops.
He said the deployments were to ensure regional security, protect the thriving trade with South Sudan and rescue trapped Ugandans and constitutionalism in South Sudan.
“I am therefore, writing to you to request you call Parliament to approve my actions as provided for by the UPDF Act. The mission for the deployment is for both peacekeeping but if necessary for peace enforcement,” Mr Museveni said.
“I am therefore, writing to you to request you call Parliament to approve my actions as provided for by the UPDF Act. The mission for the deployment is for both peacekeeping but if necessary for peace enforcement,” Mr Museveni said.
Ms Kadaga has indeed recalled Parliament on January 14 to debate Museveni’s request.
On December 30, 2013, President Museveni travelled to Juba where he warned Dr Riek Machar to embrace the ceasefire plan suggested by President Kiir and endorsed by regional leaders under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development or face the wrath of the regional forces.
On December 30, 2013, President Museveni travelled to Juba where he warned Dr Riek Machar to embrace the ceasefire plan suggested by President Kiir and endorsed by regional leaders under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development or face the wrath of the regional forces.
S.SUDAN CONFLICT
Peace talks: The two parties are reported to have agreed on a cessation of hostilities but fighting continued raging in various areas in Bor and Bentiu in Jonglei and Unity states.
Objection to UPDF deployment: Dr Riek Machar’s negotiating team this week demanded the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, accusing Uganda of meddling in “an internal conflict”.
Peace talks: The two parties are reported to have agreed on a cessation of hostilities but fighting continued raging in various areas in Bor and Bentiu in Jonglei and Unity states.
Objection to UPDF deployment: Dr Riek Machar’s negotiating team this week demanded the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, accusing Uganda of meddling in “an internal conflict”.
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Saturday 11 January 2014
UN Security Council warns of “external” intervention in S. Sudan conflict
January 10, 2014 (NEW YORK) - The members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have strongly warned against “external” interventions that could exacerbate nearly a month of military and political tensions in South Sudan.
- The Security Council meeting (File photo UN/Paulo Filgueiras)
The Council, in a statement issued Friday, renewed calls for all parties involved in the conflict to commit to cessation of violence and hostilities and urged government to protect civilians, including foreign nationals and personnel.
The world body does not, however, mention any country said to have intervened in the conflict, although fingers have been pointed at Ugandan troops allegedly fighting alongside government forces in a bid to defeat rebels loyal to South Sudan former vice-president, Riek Machar.
Uganda has, however, denied any military involvement in the conflict, saying its troops were only in South Sudan to protect Ugandans trapped in the violence.
Violence hit the world’s youngest nation mid-December last year following a misunderstanding among members of the presidential guards in the capital, Juba.
More than 1,000 people have died and nearly 200,000 displaced as the conflict later flared along ethnic lines in South Sudan’s states of Upper Nile, Jonglei and Unity.
Talks between the warring parties, under the mediation of regional leaders from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), are currently ongoing in Ethiopia, with calls for peaceful dialogue through cessation of hostilities key in these talks.
“The members of the Security Council underlined their demand for President Salva Kiir, former Vice President Riek Machar and other political leaders to demonstrate leadership by immediately agreeing to a cessation of hostilities and commencing a broader dialogue as proposed in the mediation efforts underway by IGAD in Addis Ababa”, the statement reads.
In particular, the UNSC urged Machar to move forward and agree to a cessation of hostilities without precondition and requested President Kiir, to release all political leaders currently detained in order to “create an environment conducive to a successful dialogue”.
The South Sudanese president has, however, defied mounting international pressure on him to unconditionally release detainees arrested last month following an alleged coup attempt in the country.
Members of the UNSC also called on both parties in the conflict to allow humanitarian access to thousands displaced and further agitated for security of economic infrastructure, including oil installations and the safety of the employees.
UN CHIEF WELCOMES TALKS
The UN Secretary General on Friday welcomed the beginning of the IGAD-mediated talks on South Sudan crisis, saying there "must" be no further delays in agreeing on a cessation of hostilities.
"I called President Salva Kiir yesterday [Thursday] again and urged him to demonstrate leadership and political flexibility by immediately releasing political prisoners", Ban Ki Moon said in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
"South Sudan is at a crossroads; this crisis can be resolved only at the negotiating table; and I urge the two sides to negotiate in earnest", he added.
Western diplomats and the international community have all voiced their concerns for dialogue between South Sudan’s warring parties as a means to end nearly a month of violence in the East African country.
ACTIVIST BACKS UNSC MOVE
A South Sudanese civil society activist on Saturday welcomed the UNSC warning against any external intervention in the conflict, saying it was within the current expectations of citizens.
"South Sudanese want to see a quick end of the military confrontation and effective political dialogues going on. The more the end for fighting delays, the more criminal minded individuals take the opportunity for committing crimes", said Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO).
We urge each of the conflicting parties to compromise and demonstrate responsibility in order to pave way for a conductive atmosphere for peaceful dialogue, he stressed.
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Saturday 11 January 2014
S. Sudanese women urge global intervention to end crisis
January 10- 2014 (JUBA) - A group of South Sudanese women this week held a peaceful march in the country’s capital, Juba, strongly voicing their concerns for peace and global intervention to end the crisis in the new nation.
- South Sudanese women dance at a festival in Juba to celebrate the country’s anniversary of independence (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
“War is never a solution to any differences. Violence produces violence and the rivals do not become the victims of their actions. It is the ordinary people who become the victims of the situation created by individuals obsessed with personal ambitions and interests”, Asunta Ajith Bol, one of the protestors told Sudan Tribune.
“Now our people are dying all over the country for no apparent reason. Why?”she asked.
Nearly a month of violent conflict in the country has claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced close to 200,000, as many expressed fears that South Sudan risks sliding back into civil war.
Peace talks between government and the rebel delegation in Ethiopia were reportedly making little progress, despite mounting international pressure on both sides to end conflict.
“If you ask anybody in this country, whether they are women like me or men like you, whether they are children, a boy or girl, small or big, weak or strong, rich or poor, they will certainly tell you that they want peace and not war”, said Bol.
“Our people need peace and the international community should take up full responsibility to make the leaders, those involved in the conflict accept peace”, she added, and encouraged both sides to resolve their differences on the table, but not through guns.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Monica Dominic Madut, a female activist from South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state expressed fear that failure by the two sides to immediately reach an understanding would further worsen the situation.
“This situation has already gotten out of control, and our fear as mothers and wives is that if the people discussing peace in Addis Ababa don’t agree anytime soon, then this is going to get worse, which is what we don’t want”, Madut said in a separate interview.
Peace must come by all means without violence, she added.
The activist, however, said it was meaningless if both side continued fighting on the ground, despite reports that the warring parties have publicly agreed to end cessation of hostilities.
"Enough is enough. How long ago did we get independence after fighting as one people and only to return into the same fighting for no apparent reason? We lost millions to gain independence and now we want to lose more lives and destroy the little that has been made?” she asked
LAUGHING MATTER
Meanwhile, Mary Benjamin expressed strong disappointment with the way South Sudan was being run by politicians she described as “obstinate to change”, allegedly due to their desires for power.
“Our people and this country have been reduced to the laughing stock at the international level by individuals obstinate to change. They do not see beyond their interests. They have laid a completely wrong foundation of this nation”, said Benjamin.
(ST)
US weighs targeted sanctions against South Sudan -sources
South Sudan President Salva Kiir (R) and his Sudan counterpart Omar al-Bashir hold a joint news briefing …
By Louis Charbonneau and Warren Strobel
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is weighing targeted sanctions against South Sudan due to the failure of leaders in the world's youngest nation to take steps to end a crisis that has brought the country to the brink of civil war, sources briefed on U.S. discussions told Reuters.
"It's a tool that has been discussed," a source told Reuters on condition of anonymity about the possibility of U.S. sanctions against those blocking peace efforts or fueling violence in South Sudan. Another source confirmed the remarks, though both declined to provide details on the precise measures under consideration.
No decisions have been made yet, the sources added. Targeted sanctions focus on specific individuals, entities or sectors of country.
The U.S. government was unlikely to consider steps intended to economically harm impoverished South Sudan but would likely focus on any measures on those individuals or groups it sees as blocking efforts at brokering peace or committing atrocities.
Traditionally U.S. sanctions against individuals or groups involve a ban on travel to the United States and freezing of their assets in U.S. banks.
Three weeks of fighting, often along ethnic lines, is ringing alarm bells in Washington over the prospect that the conflict could spiral into full-blown civil war, spawning atrocities or making South Sudan the world's next failed state.
The fact that Washington is thinking of threatening U.S. sanctions against a country the United States helped create and supports with large amounts of aid shows how frustrated President Barack Obama's administration has become with President Salva Kiir and a rebel faction led by former Vice President Riek Machar.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was asked about the possibility of U.S. sanctions against South Sudan, where the United Nations has a large peacekeeping force that is protecting some 75,000 civilians at its bases. He declined to comment on sanctions but urged all sides to stop fighting.
Largely Christian South Sudan gained independence from predominantly Muslim Sudan in 2011 after a referendum was held in keeping with a 2005 U.S.-backed peace deal that ended a north-south civil war that left millions dead.
EXPERTS FAVOR U.S. SANCTIONS
Kate Almquist Knopf of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University said on Thursday that Washington should consider targeted sanctions if the fighting and political deadlock in South Sudan continue.
"The United States should move to invoke the president's authorities to institute travel bans and asset freezes on senior leadership on both sides, as well as be prepared to extend those sanctions multilaterally to a resolution in the U.N. Security Council," she told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
John Prendergast, a former U.S. State Department official and co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide group, told the same hearing that Washington should also target those in South Sudan who are linked to mass killings.
He said Washington "should focus on individual culpability - the targeted sanctions, prosecution of people who are found to be ... committing or planning atrocities."
In a statement on Thursday the White House urged both sides in the escalating conflict to sign an agreement to cease hostilities immediately.
On Wednesday, South Sudanese rebels rejected a government plan to end a dispute over detainees and unblock peace talks. Fighting in the oil-producing nation has killed at least 1,000 people and caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, in turn, has refused to release 11 detainees despite promising Washington last month that he would free most of them.
U.S. President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice said in the White House statement that the United States was disappointed the detainees have not been freed yet but noted that their continued detention was no excuse to continue fighting.
"The United States reiterates its call upon President Salva Kiir to release the detainees immediately to the custody of (the East African trading bloc) IGAD so that they can participate in the political negotiations," Rice said.
U.N. chief Ban echoed Rice's comments, saying he urged Kiir in a telephone call on Thursday to release all political detainees. The U.N. Security Council also urged Kiir to release the detainees and called on Machar to "agree to a cessation of hostilities without precondition."
U.S. government officials and senators said on Thursday that hundreds of millions of dollars in support to South Sudan's government could be stopped if the violence continues.
In 2012 the United States joined the other 14 members of the U.N. Security Council in threatening sanctions against Sudan and South Sudan due to a crisis over the disputed oil region Heglig, though council diplomats said Washington was reluctant at the time to back measures that would undermine Kiir's government.
U.S. officials said Washington was satisfied then that the mere threat of U.S. support for sanctions was sufficient. The Heglig crisis was eventually resolved.
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10 January 2014 Last updated at 17:39 ET
The army has also been divided along ethnic lines
Some 2,000 South Sudanese are crossing to Uganda each day
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South Sudan troops 'recapture key oil city of Bentiu'
The BBC's Andrew Harding says it appears Bentiu was recaptured from rebels with just a "small amount of resistance"
South Sudan's military says it has recaptured the oil hub of Bentiu - one of just two rebel-held cities.
Army spokesman Philip Aguer said the final resistance - a tank protecting a bridge to the city - had been overcome at 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT).
Rebel leader Riek Machar told AFP his forces had withdrawn to save civilians but vowed to fight on.
The UN peacekeeping chief says the conflict has killed "very substantially in excess" of 1,000 people.
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Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Late last year, in the chaotic early days of his rebellion, Riek Machar was in a pretty strong position. He had taken the state capitals Bor and Bentiu, and oilfields in Unity state near Bentiu. His rebels were also fighting for control of Malakal, the gateway to the Upper Nile oilfields.
Losing towns was embarrassing for President Salva Kiir, and oil is critical to South Sudan's economy. However, the government held on to Malakal, and has now regained Bentiu. It seems likely it will recapture the Unity state oilfields too.
All this is a boost to President Kiir, and significantly weakens Mr Machar's hand. He will find it harder to push through his demands at the Addis Ababa talks, and it is now less likely that other soldiers will defect to the rebel cause.
Nevertheless he will keep fighting, and momentum moves swiftly in this conflict. It is a serious setback for the former vice-president, but not the end of the war.
Ceasefire talks in neighbouring Ethiopia have stalled.
Bentiu is the capital of the oil-rich Unity state. The fighting, which began on 15 December, has seen South Sudan's oil output fall by about 20%.
Col Aguer told Reuters news agency: "When you control Bentiu you control all the oil fields in Unity state."
Ahead of the government advance, thousands of people fled Bentiu.
Several thousand have sought refuge in a UN base in the city, where people have been divided according to their ethnic group in order to prevent clashes.
The conflict has seen outbreaks of ethnic violence between Dinkas, the community of President Salva Kiir, and Nuers, like Mr Machar.
Although both leaders have influential backers from the other's community, the conflict has often taken an ethnic dimension.
"We withdrew from Bentiu, but it was to avoid fighting in the streets and save civilian lives. We fight on, we will continue the battle," Mr Machar, the country's vice-president until last July, told the AFP news agency.
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The BBC's Alastair Leithead says the crisis has rekindled old tribal tensions
The BBC's Andrew Harding in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, says the question now is whether the recapture of Bentiu will spur on negotiators in Ethiopia to reach a ceasefire agreement to avoid further fighting.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
End Quote'The SPLM has always been a military organisation. No discussion, no debate... the president was unable to think of any other way apart from the military for resolving things,' said South Sudan's former minister of higher education, who lost one leg to a bullet during the long civil war.”
Mr Machar said his anti-government alliance was still committed to peace talks.
Earlier, Col Aguer urged all civilians to leave Bentiu to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
He did not give any casualty figures but said that fighters on both sides had been killed.
The colonel told the Associated Press news agency that rebel forces had "destroyed'' the town, looting the bank, stealing food and setting the market on fire.
Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said its facilities in Bentiu were looted on Thursday, putting its operations in the region in jeopardy.
"MSF won't be able to resume its much-needed operations in Bentiu until the security of our patients, staff and facilities is guaranteed," MSF South Sudan head Raphael Georgeu said in a statement.
UN envoy in South Sudan Toby Lanzer, earlier tweeted from Bentiu that UN peacekeepers had built up defences at the UN base to protect civilians.
Swimming under gunfire
Col Aguer said that from Friday afternoon, all the government forces would be focused on recapturing Bor - the other city under rebel control.
On Thursday, people fleeing Bor told AFP that gunmen had shot dead fleeing civilians, torched entire villages and looted crops.
The army has also been divided along ethnic lines Some 2,000 South Sudanese are crossing to Uganda each day
One cattle herder told of swimming across the River Nile while being shot at.
"They [the attackers] had a machine gun raised up on a sandbank, and they fired and fired and fired as we swam," Gabriel Bol told AFP.
"The bullets were hitting the water, but we knew we could not stop or they'd shoot us."
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous on Thursday night told the UN Security Council that more than 250,000 had fled their homes because of the conflict.
South Sudan is the world's newest state. It became independent in 2011 after seceding from Sudan.
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians' political bases are often ethnic.
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