IT IS A CIVIL ETHNIC WAR.....that is all falck.

South Sudan completes investigating political detainees


January 28, 2014 (JUBA/KHARTOUM) - South Sudan’s government says it has completed investigating the 11 senior members of the country’s ruling party, held since mid-December last year, on accusations of aiding an alleged coup attempt.

"The minister of justice has completed the investigation of the detainees and will this afternoon submit the report to the president for consideration," information Michael Makuei Lueth said in a statement broadcast by state-owned SSTV on Monday.

"The issue of these detainees has been a very big headache to us in the government", he added, without elaborating on the content of the reports.

The status of the 11 political detainees has been one of the main issues that have delayed peace talks between the South Sudanese government of Salva Kiir and rebels led by his former deputy, Riek Machar.

Despite mounting international pressure and the fact that their detention is in violation of South Sudan’s transitional constitution, Juba has resolutely refused to release the politicians, many of whom were sacked in July last year and had become increasingly critical of Kiir’s leadership.

Sudan Tribune was unable to reach the minister of justice or the office of the president despite several attempts to ask for comment on Monday.

All of those arrested, as well as those who have rebelled against the government, deny any coup attempt was planned or attempted on the evening of December 15 when fighting broke out between members of the Presidential Guard.

Following two days of severe fighting in the capital, commanders of the South Sudanese army (SPLA) defected in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states.

In six weeks of conflict over half a million people have been displaced. Estimates on how many people have been killed vary from 1,000, given by the UN some weeks ago, and the figure of 10,000 estimated by the International Crisis Group - a research organisation.

Before a ceasefire deal was eventually signed on 23 January, Sudan analyst Aly Verjee wrote in relation to the issue of the detainees that there was a danger "that too much of the mediators’ political capital is expended on a goal that is only a means to further negotiations, rather than an end in itself, and work towards a lasting settlement remains a lesser priority."

The detainees themselves told mediators from the East African regional bloc IGAD that their freedom should not stand in the way of a deal to end the fighting. Despite these assurance the rebels continued to demand their release as a precondition to signing a cessation of hostilities agreement up until the deal was eventually signed four days ago.

Initially there were 13 detainees, but Peter Adwok Nyaba and Deng Deng Akoon were released.

Those still is custody are: Deng Alor, former minister of cabinet affairs, Pagan Amum, former SPLM secretary general, Cirino Iteng, former minister of culture, Madut Biar Yel, former minister for telecommunication and postal services, Oyai Deng Ajak, former minister for national security in the office of the president, Majak D’ Agoot, former deputy minister of defence, Chol Tong Magay, former governor of Lakes state Ezekiel Gatkuoth Lul, former ambassador to the United States, John Luk Jok, former justice minister, Kosti Manibe, former minister of finance, and Gier Chuang Aluong, former minister of roads and bridges.

DETAINEES TO FACE THE LAW

The legal adviser to President Kiir has hinted on the possible release of the political detainees, which he said, would be in accordance with the country’s constitution.

“The recent agreement on cessation of hostilities was aimed at determining the position of the accused persons, but not to release them,” Telar Riing Deng told reporters in Khartoum after he delivered a message President Kiir to his Sudanese counterpart Omer al-Bashir.

“Anyone who commits a crime shall be punished according to the law,” he stressed, but reiterated South Sudan government’s commitment to the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa Thursday.

(ST)

• ST - S. Sudan’s Kiir defies global pressure to release political detainees

• The Juba Eleven: excessive focus on their freedom?

• ST - US official dismisses alleged failed ‘coup’ in South Sudan

Uganda wants to implicate in the war in South Sudan!!!!!

Ugandan MPs back UPDF deployment in South Sudan


January 14, 2014 (KAMPALA) – Ugandan lawmakers, at a special session held on Tuesday, supported its government’s decision to deploy the national army (UPDF) in South Sudan, despite the United Nations Security Council warnings against external interventions that could exacerbate the new nation’s conflict.

Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament said the sitting was convened to update lawmakers on the deployment of the UPDF in Juba, but not to seek their approval on the matter as many had anticipated.

But it was the country’s defense minister Crispus Kiyonga who tabled the motion before lawmakers in compliance with Section 40 of the UPDF Act.

Several lawmakers, during a heated debate, said they supported UPDF presence in South Sudan provided they were there to ensure safety of Ugandans trapped in the weeks of violence.

Fighting erupted mid December in the capital, Juba after a dispute among presidential guards, but later spread to other parts of the country, killing in excess of 1,000 people and displacing 200,000.

South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar has accused Ugandan troops of backing forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, calling for their withdrawal from the country.

“We support the deployment as long as it is for evacuation of our citizens from South Sudan. When a country is going to war, leaders consult widely; we should learn to work together. What’s happening in South Sudan is a result of bad governance,” opposition lawmaker Wafula Oguttu reportedly said.

“We don’t have sufficient resources to maintain another country in the neighborhood. The government is killing and the rebels are killing but for us to get involved we must get a clear mandate”, he added.

But Uganda’s Prime Minister, according to Daily Monitor newspaper, argued that the army was in South Sudan to avert an imminent threat from an “ungovernable” South Sudan.

“This is a case where unity must be demonstrated, this matter should not divide us,” said Amama Mbabazi, citing Article 209 of the Constitution, which sets out the army’s functions, including preserving and defending Uganda’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The army chief, Gen Katumba Wamala also argued that the situation in South Sudan was threatening Uganda’s security and thus the latter had all reasons to intervene.

“We have an obligation to see South Sudan stand as a nation”, he told Daily Monitor.

But Muwanga Kivumbi, an opposition lawmaker, accused President Yoweri Museveni of taking decisions without seeking parliamentary approval on matters of national interests.

“We want to know what kind of mandate the UPDF of Uganda in South Sudan will undertake and under whose invitation. Is it IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] or African Union?” he asked.

“Which arrangement are we in South Sudan? Or we are there as mercenaries to help Salva Kiir. We need to know these details”, Kivumbi told reporters in Kampala after Tuesday’s special parliamentary sitting.

President Museveni recently appointed Col. Kayanja Muhanga as overall commander of its army (UPDF) operations in South Sudan. His role, according to media reports, will mainly involve diplomacy, politics and military command.

(ST)

How to mange politics and administration.

Equatoria leaders demand balanced army and security recruitment


January 13, 2014 (JUBA) – Leaders from South Sudan’s Greater Equatoria region are demanding a regional quota system of recruiting people into the army and security organs to avoid future ethnic coups, mutinies and or rebellions.

The call was part of the resolution reached by the three governors of Central, Eastern and Western Equatoria at an emergency conference organised on the current crisis in the capital, Juba.

The event, held on 10 January, also urged the country’s leaders to adopt laws to punish anyone involved in the politicisation and misuse of the army and other security organs.

“We strongly denounce the use of tribal loyalties to achieve or maintain political power that tend to foster tribal hegemony,” stipulates one of the resolutions.

The one-day conference, which brought together the three governors, also resolved to mobilise Equatorians for the protection of the territory, its people and their property.

Nearly a month of violence in the country has left more than 1,000 people dead and tens of thousands displaced in its worst-ever violence outbreak since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir largely blamed his former deputy, Riek Machar for an alleged coup attempt, while the latter says it was a move to silence opposition with the country’s ruling Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Talks are currently underway in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa under the mediation of regional leaders from the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to break the impasse between the rebels and government.

The Equatorian leaders, however, expressed support for the mediation process in Addis Ababa and urge South government of and the rebels led by Machar, to cooperate with the IGAD mediators to achieve immediate solution to the current crisis.

The further proposed the formation of the Equatoria High Committee to be involved in the peace process in Addis Ababa, where cessations of hostilities between South Sudan’s warring parties dominates the agenda.

STALLED TALKS RESUME

Negotiating teams representing the South Sudanese government and rebels resumed face-to-face talks in the Ethiopian capital on Monday.

The resumption of talks, which stalled last week amid disagreement over the terms of a ceasefire, followed a meeting between regional mediators, the US envoy Donald Booth and Machar at an undisclosed location inside South Sudan in a bid to convince him to sign a ceasefire agreement.

"We engaged him [Machar] for over three hours in trying to move him toward agreeing to a cessation of hostilities agreement”, Booth told reporters in Addis Ababa on Monday.

Direct talks are due to continue on Tuesday, with IGAD mediators expressing hopes that a ceasefire deal could be reached by end of the week.

(ST)