Good People of the World,
Urgently go after Museveni and Stop him now............We want South
Sudan internal Civil strife and conflict problem ended now........!!!
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/
Uganda fights in South Sudan as UN decries atrocities
Juba (AFP) - Uganda confirmed its troops are fighting alongside South Sudan's government against rebels as a UN envoy decried atrocities committed by both sides.
Ceasefire talks -- to end the conflict of over a month in which thousands have been killed -- are deadlocked amid squabbling leaders and rebel demands for the release of political prisoners.
A UN rights envoy in South Sudan said Thursday he had seen bodies in the streets that had been tied before being shot as the global body stepped up warnings over rights abuses.
The UN has accused both sides of carrying out atrocities in the conflict that started on December 25.
Amid mounting reports of mass killings in several towns, UN assistant secretary general Ivan Simonovic said 92 UN investigators were in the country and a first report would be released in about two weeks.
Speaking in New York after a visit to the Unity state capital of Bentiu, Simonovic said it had been left a "ghost town" by successive raids by the rival forces. Nearly all the 40,000 inhabitants have fled.
"When there is change of control over Bentiu each time the group that was taking control was involved in human rights violations including killings of civilians," Simonovic was quoted as saying by the UN mission in South Sudan.
"We could see about 15 to 20 decomposing bodies just by the street," he added. "Obviously civilians are being tied before being killed."
UN leader Ban Ki-moon has warned that both sides will be held accountable.
Up to 10,000 people are believed to have been killed so far in the fighting pitting forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against a loose coalition of army defectors and ethnic militia nominally headed by Riek Machar, a former vice president and seasoned guerrilla fighter.
'Widespread killings'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Thursday that it had interviewed witnesses to abuses in the capital Juba and Bor.
It said there had been "widespread killings" of ethnic Nuer men by Kiir's armed forces in Juba, including a massacre of between 200 and 300 men in the Gudele neighbourhood on December 16.
The group has also taken evidence of targeted killings including the shooting of children.
"They brought out five of my neighbours and shot them in the street," a 42-year-old bricklayer in Juba told HRW, recounting killings at the start of the conflict.
Meanwhile government delegation head Nhial Deng Nhial arrived back in Juba calling the negotiations in neighbouring Ethiopia "tough" and that he had come to consult back in the capital.
The talks are mediated by the East African regional bloc IGAD, of which Uganda is a key member, raising concerns for the body as a neutral negotiator for the rebels.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his troops were supporting the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -- the first official confirmation foreign forces are taking part in combat.
"The SPLA and elements of our army had a big battle with these rebel troops... we inflicted a big defeat on them," Museveni said, speaking in at a summit meeting in Angola late Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, many lives were lost on the side of the rebels. We also took casualties and also had some dead."
A confidential memo from Kenya's foreign ministry seen by AFP reports that Machar has alleged Ugandan fighter jets have tried to bomb his hideout in Jonglei state.
The document warned the presence of foreign forces -- also reportedly including rebel fighters from neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region -- could "derail the process" of talks, with Machar telling Kenya that "the credibility of IGAD as a mediator in the conflict is in question".
According to the United Nations, some 400,000 civilians have fled their homes over the past month as the violence spiralled into ethnic killings between members of Kiir's Dinka people -- the country's largest group -- and the Nuer community of Machar.
UN leader Ban has expressed alarm at the "rising number of fatalities" in the fighting and condemned both the army and rebels for stealing food and humanitarian supplies.
The UN World Food Programme has said enough food has been stolen to feed 180,000 people for a month.
More than four million people, or roughly a third of the population of the country that won independence from Sudan only in 2011, were deemed to be "food insecure" by WFP even before fighting began.
The army has for days talked of an imminent assault on rebel-held Bor, the capital of restive Jonglei state, which has already swapped hands three times since fighting began.
- Unrest, Conflicts & War
- Politics & Government
- South Sudan
- Riek Machar
- President Yoweri Museveni
Fred
This is a struggle by a few "strong men" or "big men" for the oil resources, just masquerading as ethnic feuds.
Ronald
and manipulated by some foreign country.
Ronald
africa is a basket case, exterminate, exterminate, and start again.
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Senior US senators push South Sudan leaders on violence
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir gestures during a news conference in Juba December 18, 2013. REUTERS/Goran …
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior members of the influential U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged South Sudan's leaders on Friday to stop violence threatening to spiral into civil war in a country that has received billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds.
In letters obtained by Reuters, Democratic Senators Robert Menendez, chairman of the committee, and Chris Coons, chairman of the Africa subcommittee, wrote to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar expressing deep concern about the turmoil.
Fighting since mid-December, often along ethnic lines, has pitted Kiir's SPLA government forces against rebels loyal to Machar, raising fears the oil-exporting country could become Africa's next failed state.
At least 1,000 people have been killed, with some estimates as high as 10,000, and more than 200,000 have been displaced. Oil exports - key to South Sudan's economy - have plummeted, adding to regional instability.
"As long-time friends of South Sudan, we must first express our deep concern to you, its president, with the hope that you do everything in your power to bring the violence to an immediate end," Menendez and Coons wrote to Kiir.
The senators urged all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire, without preconditions. They also called on Kiir to release political detainees to allow them participate in peace negotiations.
They called for a more inclusive and transparent political dialogue, as well as an end to any harassment of relief workers, and expressed alarm about human rights violations.
"We are closely monitoring potential human rights violations and atrocities against innocent civilians, committed by any and all parties. We strongly urge you to demand restraint," they wrote to Machar.
Washington has spent billions of dollars - congressional aides estimated $600 million per year - to help build the fledgling nation, including allowing weapons sales to its government and providing security training for its armed forces.
Unlike many African countries, South Sudan enjoys the strong interest of a broad range of U.S. lawmakers, who backed the push by largely Christian and African southern Sudan to split from Muslim- and Arab-dominated northern Sudan and form the world's youngest state three years ago.
But some members of Congress have been expressing deep frustration with the wave of violence and several have questioned whether it is appropriate for the United States to cut back on aid or slap sanctions on those responsible.
Menendez called a Senate Foreign relations hearing last week to question U.S. officials and activists about the crisis. The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee held a similar hearing this week.
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South Sudan's Kiir Says Uganda Helping to Fight Rebels
President of Oil-Rich Nation Hopes to Gain Leverage in Peace Talks
Updated Jan. 16, 2014 9:41 p.m. ET
JUBA, South Sudan—The president of South Sudan on Thursday said Ugandan troops are bolstering his fight against a political foe, as partners with a stake in this oil-rich nation back his push to gain leverage in peace talks through battlefield gains.
"I as the head of this government requested them to assist," Salva Kiir told The Wall Street Journal in an interview at his offices in the capital, the first .
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