----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Judy Miriga
To: "progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com"; Change Mombasa
; Mabadiliko
;
"wanakenya@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 8:30 AM
Subject: Fw: [wanabidii] South Sudan Rebels Recapture Malakal, Government Troops on the Run
From: Judy Miriga
To: "progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 8:30 AM
Subject: Fw: [wanabidii] South Sudan Rebels Recapture Malakal, Government Troops on the Run
Good People,
Oh!!! Something we loathed and wanted
to avoid is now our fears. The Big Cat "The Lion"
is on the loose and Museveni is now in trouble. Museveni's troops in South Sudan is on
the run with South Sudanese struggling for Change for better governance are in hot pursuit
and this race might end at the doorsteps of Museveni's home tuff. Who will help Museveni
when fire begin to burn Uganda??? Why did Museveni refuse to listen to their IGAD, the
US and the UN ???
This looks like a war that will force Museveni with his troops out of South Sudan, having
refused to listen to the voice of reasons; to choose diplomacy rather than military........and
now his match in the military he will not contain........Will Museveni go back to IGAD???
This is a million dollar question.
This looks like a war that will force Museveni with his troops out of South Sudan, having
refused to listen to the voice of reasons; to choose diplomacy rather than military........and
now his match in the military he will not contain........Will Museveni go back to IGAD???
This is a million dollar question.
Well, if that is the case, then it serves him right......................
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
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Sudan News
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 3:31 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] South Sudan Rebels Recapture Malakal, Government Troops on the Run
From: Sudan News
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 3:31 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] South Sudan Rebels Recapture Malakal, Government Troops on the Run
Rebel
forces loyal to the South Sudanese Former Vice President Dr. Riek
Machar have recaptured Malakal in the early hours of Tuesday.
The rebels seized the capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile State early Tuesday after days of fierce fighting.
Rebels’ commander who spoke to the South Sudan News Agency on condition of anonymity said their troops have defeated combined forces of Uganda and South Sudan stationed in Malakal.
“They are running toward Paloch and our forces are pursuing them”, the source said.
More details to follow...
===================================
Fresh fighting breaks out in South Sudan
By ILYA GRIDNEFF
February 18th 2014.....................3 hours ago
February 18th 2014.....................3 hours ago
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) —
Fighting resumed in South Sudan after rebel forces attacked the capital
of the oil-producing state of Upper Nile, a military official said
Tuesday, in what appeared to be the heaviest clashes since both sides
signed a ceasefire last month.
Fighting
broke out early Tuesday in Malakal, which once was in rebel hands but
is now controlled by government troops, said South Sudanese military
spokesman Col. Philip Aguer.
"We were expecting it because the rebel commander in the area said he would not respect a ceasefire," he said.
Although
the country's warring factions signed a ceasefire on Jan. 23, both
sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating that agreement.
The international community has repeatedly urged both sides to respect
the ceasefire as peace talks continue in neighboring Ethiopia. Those
talks have proceeded slowly.
Toby Lanzer, the United Nation's top
humanitarian official in South Sudan, said on Twitter Tuesday that all
groups "engaged in the violence must uphold people's rights and protect
non-combatants." The U.N. says both sides have committed rights
violations, and on Monday South Sudan's military announced more than 20
government soldiers had been charged over civilian killings.
Grace
Cahill, a spokeswoman for Oxfam in South Sudan, said armed groups had
gathered outside the U.N. compound in Malakal, where 27,000 people have
been seeking shelter.
"The presence of armed groups outside the compound has made those inside very scared," she said.
Thousands
of people have been killed and more than 800,000 displaced by violence
since mid-December, when a fight broke out among presidential guards in
the capital, Juba, before spreading out across the country. Ugandan
forces are fighting alongside the South Sudanese military as it tries to
put down a rebellion led by former Vice President Riek Machar, an
influential politician whose dismissal last year sparked ethnic tension
in a country with a history of divided military loyalties.
Machar
is Nuer, the ethnic group of most of the soldiers who defected and
joined his rebellion late last year. Most of the loyalist forces are
from the Dinka ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, whose government
insists that unrest in the country was sparked by a failed military coup
mounted by soldiers loyal to Machar.
Machar denies the coup allegation but says his goal is to have Kiir removed from power.
==================================
S. Sudan rebels claim to have taken partial control of Malakal
February 18, 2014 (JUBA) – Sources from the South Sudanese rebels
claimed to have recaptured much of the strategic oil-rich town of
Malakal on Tuesday morning, adding that the whole state capital will be
under their full control in a matter of hours.
- SPLA forces in the flashpoint town of Malakal in Upper Nile state (Reuters)
The
sources further claimed Ugandan warplanes from Juba, the South Sudanese
capital launched air attacks against the rebels around the Upper Nile
state capital.
A Sudan Tribune reporter in the South Sudan
capital said he saw military jet fighters on Tuesday taking off from
Juba Airport and headed towards Malakal, a strategic town located 497km
north-east of Juba.
“Our positions came under attacks by the
government forces outside Malakal this morning and we had to strike back
and pushed them back into Malakal. We have now recaptured about 70% of
Malakal city and moving on,” said a military commander around Malakal
who preferred anonymity because he was unauthorised to speak on behalf
of the rebels.
Philip Aguer, the South Sudanese army (SPLA) spokesperson told Sudan Tribune that Malakal has, since Tuesday morning, been a scene of intense ongoing clashes.
"We
do not have full information at the moment, but we shall know the clear
information in the next three hours", Aguer said by phone and blamed
the attack on forces loyal to South Sudan’s former vice-president, Riek
Machar.
Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator
in South Sudan confirmed the outbreak of hostilities in Malakal between
rebels and government troops.
"All parties engaged in the violence must uphold people’s rights and protect non-combatants," he tweeted Tuesday.
(ST)
===========================================
South Sudan president admits forming private army
February 17, 2014 (JUBA) - South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, has
admitted forming a private army widely believed to have played a key
role in ethnic killings after clashes broke out between rival factions
within the presidential guard on 15 December.
- South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, who rarely appears in military fatigues, addresses the nation in December 16, 2013 (Reuters)
Kiir
made the surprise admission at a political function organised by the
youth wing of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in
the capital, Juba, on Saturday.
The president attempted to
justify the formation of the unauthorised army, saying the intention was
to have “a reserve force” to help the nation in the event military
action was needed.
“It was on this basis that somebody mobilised
and recruited some youth to the national service. Those who thought of
mobilisation of the youth to be trained did not have bad intention. It
was not a bad idea. Any country which does not have [a] reserve [force]
always gets into difficulties”, Kiir told the audience at the meeting.
He
accused some officials of having denied the new recruits their salaries
and weapons while undergoing training as they were opposed to the idea.
“When
these people were in the training, they were denied everything. They
were denied salaries, weapons and all the things they were supposed to
get because some people did not like the idea, but when this thing (the
outbreak of violence) happened, they did not think about all that
happened to them. Who are now fighting in Unity, in Malakal and Jonglei
states?” Kiir said.
The gathering was attended by high-ranking government officials and members of the SPLM’s leadership council.
Vice-president
James Wani Igga also addressed the gathering, which was attended by the
speaker of the national parliament, Magok Rundial, as well as senior
military officers and members from other political parties in the
country.
Close to half a million people have been displaced since
the conflict broke out in Juba, quickly spreading to other parts of the
country as government troops loyal to Kiir and rebels aligned with
former vice-president Riek Machar battled for control of strategic
areas.
The conflict divided along ethnic lines, pitting members of
Kiir’s Dinka tribe against supporters of Machar, who hails from the
Nuer tribe.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a research team had
documented widespread killings of Nuer men by members of the South Sudan
army (SPLA) in Juba, particularly during the period between 15 to 19
December, including a massacre of between 200 and 300 men in the Gudele
neighbourhood, after they were reportedly rounded up and forced into an
overcrowded room in a government building before being shot.
Eyewitnesses and victims gave accounts of soldiers and policemen conducting house-to-house searches in the capital for Nuer men.
HRW
also documented the targeting and killing of civilians of Dinka
ethnicity by opposition forces in other parts of the country during the
conflict.
(ST)
===========================================
S. Sudan admits mass defection of its army to Machar’s rebels
February 17, 2014 (JUBA/ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese government on
Monday revealed officially for the first time a situation of mass
defection of its troops to rebels led by the former vice- president,
Riek Machar, calling for more involvement of foreign forces to “fill the
gap.”
- Soldiers from South Sudan’s army patrol the streets of Malakal in the Upper Nile State of South Sudan on December 31, 2013 (AFP)
In
parliamentary session organised to discuss the current violence with
the rebels that started in mid-December, senior security leaders and
lawmakers made the rare admission, which they claimed had become a
threat to the administration unless outside help was sought.
The
government’s chief whip, Tulio Odongi, who controls members of the
ruling party in the parliament, told the national legislature on Monday
that up to 70% of the army was becoming loyal to Riek Machar and
defecting to the rebels’ side.
He appealed to the foreign “allied forces” not to withdraw from South Sudan until the current “weakness” was addressed.
Odongi
further urged the president to urgently acquire air, land and river
defense weapons in order to face the looming threat posed by the rebels.
The minister of interior, Aleu Ayieny, while addressing the parliament, also shared the grave concerns raised by the chief whip.
He
said the greater Upper Nile region, which constitutes the largest
presence and deployment of South Sudan army, has recently been hard by
defections to the rebels.
Aleu further revealed that even the
police force was defecting to the rebels, adding that his own ministry
was “terribly affected” because many officers had defected to the
rebels.
The parliament approved a supplementary budget of 749
million South Sudanese pounds (over $300m) to deal with the security
threats.
Minister of defence, Kuol Manyang Juuk, had earlier on
revealed that his government was financing the Uganda army in order to
join the war against the rebels.
The renewed government’s call for
more interventions by foreign forces came days after the United Nations
and many other countries including US, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan warned
of “regionalization of the conflict” and called for the withdrawal of
the Ugandan army and other allied foreign forces from the new country.
REBELS SAY MORE DEFECTIONS TO OCCUR
Meanwhile
South Sudanese rebels have confirmed defections from the government’s
forces to their side and further warned of more imminent defections in
the coming period.
“Majority in the army have now come to realize
the root cause of the senseless violence. They have learnt that Salva
Kiir instigated the violence,” Machar’s spokesperson James Gatdet Dak,
told Sudan Tribune on Monday, warning of more defections from the government in the coming period.
He
said the army now sees President Salva Kiir as “a war-mongering
commander-in-chief who could do anything to kill his own people
indiscriminately, fitting ethnic groups against each other and bringing
foreign forces to help him kill more people and destroy properties just
in order to remain in power.”
Dak further criticised the
revelation that Juba was paying Kampala for the military activities of
Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) in South Sudan.
“You can
now see how his dictatorial administration uses the public money, not to
provide the badly needed basic services for the benefit of the
suffering people of South Sudan, but to buy Uganda army and other allied
militias from Sudan to kill his own people,” he further alleged.
ARMY WARNS OR REBEL THREAT
The
spokesperson for the South Sudan army, Philip Aguer, on Monday told
reporters that the rebels were amassing their troops and closing in to
recapture the strategic town of Malakal, which serves as the capital of
the oil-rich state of Upper Nile.
“Today, forces of Riek Macahr
are in Anagdiar, 15km from Malakal and our forces on the ground are
saying the attacks are imminent,” he said, but said government’s troops
were ready to repulse the rebels.
He, however, told the civilians
to flee from the town if they wished so in order to escape from the
imminent violence in the oil-rich city.
South Sudanese minister
for petroleum, Stephen Dhieu Dau, also told reporters earlier that the
rebels were too threatening to capture the oilfields, hundreds of
kilometers east of Malakal.
But Machar spokesperson denied
government’s version of the rebels advance, saying troops loyal to
president Kiir were the ones attacking rebel positions around Malakal
and that anti-government forces were pushing back the army in
self-defense.
Dak further claimed that the government’s forces were also attacking their positions in Jonglei and Unity states.
He
accused the government of continuous violations of the Cessation of
Hostilities agreement signed on 23 January in Addis Ababa and said the
rebels will be forced to fight back should the government continue
dishonouring the agreements.
The two-month violence started
between presidential guards in the new nation’s capital, Juba, and
spread to the other three states.
Rebels say president Kiir who
hails from the largest tribe, Dinka, instigated the violence when he
attempted to disarm soldiers from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group in the
presidential guards division in order to silent the opposition within
the ruling (SPLM) party.
Kiir however said the violence was an attempted coup by Machar and his group of politicians in the party.
Talks
have resume for the second time in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa,
to discuss the root causes of the conflict and resolve it.
(ST)
===============================
By Leo Rom-Yieri
February 13, 2014 (SSNA) --
While the Peace Process hangs in the balance in Addis Aba...
- President Salva Kiir Mayardit is Too Deformed to be Reformed
- Shedding Crocodile Tears While South Sudan is Bleeding
- Ethiopia Wants Ugandan Troops out of South Sudan, Warns of a Regional Conflict
- SPLM Arizona Chapter Defects to the SPLM-In Opposition
- SPLA Soldiers Surround United Nations Compound in Juba, Rebels Raise Concern
- Political Parties Risk Nose Diving From Moral High Ground Into a Lowly Position of Irrelevance
- Ethiopia Will Lose its Hegemony in East Africa if it Doesn’t Address Museveni Greed
- South Sudan: A power Struggle and Implications for State and Nation Building
=================================
Friday 14 February 2014
Uganda’s withdrawal from S. Sudan a process, not on order: spokesperson
February 13, 2014 (JUBA) – A spokesperson for the Ugandan army said
Friday that any move to withdraw its troops from South Sudan would be a
process, not on order from western nations.
- Uganda army spokesperson Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda (new vision)
Lt.
Col. Paddy Ankunda made this remarks in the wake of recent demands from
the United States for withdrawal of foreign troops involved in South
Sudan’s conflict.
The participation of foreign forces, the US
argued, contravenes the cessation of hostilities agreement reached on 23
January between South Sudan’s warring parties.
But Ankunda denied
reports that Uganda had violated the ceasefire, only admitting its
troops recently helped South Sudan army (SPLA) repel rebel threats in
Jonglei state.
“What if violence rolls back into Bor, Juba after UPDF withdraw, will the US be there to help?” he asked.
The
Ugandan military spokesperson also accused rebels loyal to South Sudan
former vice-president Riek Machar of allegedlly killing 28 civilians at
Kolyang East of Bor in Jonglei state.
“[They] also attacked Pariak village looting and pillaging,” he added.
REBELS ACCUSE UGANDAN ARMY
Brig.
Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the military spokesman for SPLM/SPLA In Opposition
on Friday claimed Ugandan warplanes spread aeriel bombardments in South
Sudan’s Upper Nile State.
================================
Friday 14 February 2014
Mbeki calls for nonstop talks until peace deal is struck on Two Areas
“On 13-2-2014, government troops and
thier allies attacked our forces at Anak-Diar 30km east of Malakal town
and received air support during two hours of heavy fighting,” he said.
"Ground
attacks and the bombing of our positions by Ugandan continued in Lakes
state for the 4th day whereas on 13-2-2014, government forces and their
allies attacked our forces at Gadiang some 90km north of Bor town in
Jonglei state," he added.
"Both attacking forces were repulsed in Yirol, Anak-Diar and Gadiang".
The
rebel spokesperson said Uganda’s involvement in the South Sudanese
internal conflict remains the biggest obstacle to achieving peace.
"Museveni’s
tireless efforts in undermining and defying regional and international
powers calling for immediate withdrawal of his troops is mind
boggling", he stressed.
February 13, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - Thabo Mbeki, the chair of the
African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), called on Sudan’s
warring parties to strike a peace deal ending the two-and-half-year
conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, as talks got under way on
Thursday.
- The head of the Sudanese government negotiating team, Ibrahim Gandour (R), speaks at the opening session of peace talks aimed at ending war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, in Addis Ababa on 13 February 2014. The SPLM’s Yasir Arman appears at the extreme left of the table, while the mediators and UN envoy are pictured in the middle (Photo: AUHIP)
Speaking
at the opening session in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Mbeki exhorted
the two parties to reach a durable peace agreement based on the 28 June
2011 framework agreement, which provides for the establishment of a
political partnership between the two sides to settle the conflict in
the Two Areas and restore democracy in Sudan.
“We will stay in
Addis Ababa until un agreement is reached. I will borrow the keys from
the management of this hotel to lock the doors so nobody will leave
until an agreement is reached”, the chief mediator said.
Flanked
by the UN special envoy for Sudans, Haile Menkerios, the chief mediator
underlined that it is in the interests of the Sudanese people, as well
as the regional and international community, that “these negotiations
produce a kind of results that is expected”.
In their speeches at
the opening session, (see the attached documents) the Sudanese
government and chief negotiators from the rebel Sudan People’s
LIberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Ibrahim Gandour and Yasir Arman,
reiterated their commitment to the peace process, as well as the
decisions of the AU Peace and Security Council and UN resolution 2046
(2012) which refers to the 28 June framework agreement.
However,
while Gandour insisted on the regional character of the process,
pointing out that the purpose of the AUHIP-brokered talks is to settle
the conflict in South Korodana and Blue Nile states, Arman strenuously
defended their calls for a holistic approach to the peace process,
involving all rebel groups and an inclusive constitutional conference.
The
head of the government negotiating team referred to the address of
Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir on 27 January, where the latter
called for a national dialogue and reiterated his commitment to end war
and achieve peace among other four priorities, including public
freedom, the constitution, elections, economy, poverty alleviation and
discussions on Sudanese identity.
“We are here today to negotiate
on the basis of the three African Union Peace and Security Council’s
resolutions in 2012 and 2013 along with the UNSC resolution (2046),
re-emphasising that the negotiations will only be confined to the three
issues of the two areas, security, political and humanitarian”, Gandour
said.
The presidential aid on the other hand reaffirmed Khartoum’s
commitment to the tripartite humanitarian agreement signed on the 5
August 2012 to open humanitarian corridors for aid agencies to reach
civilians in rebel-controlled areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
However,
the two parties failed to implement this agreement after failing to
agree on the role of the Sudanese government’s humanitarian body, which
demanded to supervise the whole operation.
The SPLM-N says UN
peacekeepers in Abyei should transport humanitarian aid to rebel areas
due to suspicions that government security agencies are infiltrating the
humanitarian commission.
SPLM-N CALLS FOR ONE FORUM
In
his statement, Arman called for the implementation of the 28 June
agreement “which will lead to a national constitutional process and a
transitional government that carries the support of the massive majority
of political parties and civil societies in the opposition and in the
government”.
The SPLM-N secretary-general supported a comprehensive cessation of hostilities to stop war in the Two Areas and Darfur region.
He
has called on the different existing forums for peace in Sudan unite,
saying that continued war in the peripheral regions threatens the unity
of the country, a reference to the secession of South Sudan.
“We
call upon the Sudan government to accept one forum to end the war with
the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) and we believe that president Thabo
Mbeki, the AUHIP and Mohamed Ibn Chambas, joint AU-UN special
representative for Darfur, head of UNAMID and joint chief mediator, can
work as one team to facilitate this new forum with the support of the
African and international communities”, he said.
According to
unconfirmed reports circulating in Addis Ababa, the mediation team has
proposed the signing of a cessation of hostilities between the two
warring parties.
Meanwhile, the UN resident and humanitarian
coordinator in Sudan, Ali Al-Za’tari, on Thursday welcomed the renewed
direct talks between the government and the SPLM-N, calling for an
immediate cessation of hostilities allowing humanitarian teams to
provide much needed support in the Two Areas.
Al-Za’tari has urged
both parties to ensure that the welfare of civilians remains an
absolute priority during talks, saying they are ready to deliver
humanitarian aid once a truce is signed.
“Once agreement for a
viable cessation of hostilities has been reached, the United Nations in
Sudan stands ready to provide such assistance without delay, and once
peace is established full development efforts should be started
immediately”, he said.
(ST)
- SPLM-N statement at the opening of peace talks on 13 February 2014
- Sudanese government statement at the opening session of peace talks in Addis Ababa on 13 February 2014
