The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Riek Machar

  • South Sudan president warns of ‘famine’

    South Sudan president warns of ‘famine’

    South Sudan’s president has warned his country faces “one of worst famines ever” unless the current conflict is ended, in an interview with the BBC.

    Salva Kiir also accused his sacked deputy, Riek Machar, of stoking ethnic tension and violating a ceasefire.

    Last week, Mr Kiir postponed presidential elections due next year to give government and rebel forces more time to achieve reconciliation.

    Some one million people have fled their homes since fighting broke out.

    The unrest erupted last December after the president alleged that Mr Machar was plotting a coup – allegations the ex-deputy denies.

    The United Nations has accused both sides of crimes against humanity, including mass killings and gang-rape, and threatened sanctions against those responsible for the violence.

    President Kiir told the BBC’s Hardtalk programme the rebels were to blame for the growing hunger crisis.

    UN humanitarian official Jan Egeland yesterday also warned that some 7.3 million people could go hungry by August.

    “I think $1.2bn (£713m) is needed of additional money to avoid us entering into a situation of famine, famine like we saw it a couple of decades ago,” he said at the start of an international aid conference in Norway to raise funds for South Sudan.

    He said the continuing violence meant time was running out for the most vulnerable.

    In addition to a looming famine, South Sudan is facing a cholera outbreak, according to international aid agency Oxfam.

    Mr Kiir and Mr Machar signed a peace deal in Ethiopia on 9 May, but accused each other of breaking the ceasefire shortly after it was meant to come into effect.

    “[Mr Machar] violated it, attacking our forces,” the president told the BBC, adding: “He did not give order to stop fighting after signing. My forces are observing the ceasefire strictly.”

     

    Mr Kiir also denied delaying the elections in order to stay in power, claiming that US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked him to postpone the vote.

     

     

  • South Sudan rebel leader ‘will do best’ to attend peace talksm – Ki-moon

    South Sudan rebel leader ‘will do best’ to attend peace talksm – Ki-moon

    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar had been invited to Ethiopia for peace talks and would “try his best” to go by the end of the week.

    Ban, the second world leader to visit Juba in less than a week to mediate between the warring sides, said he was told by Machar that his remote location could prevent him reaching Addis Ababa by May 9, when he and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir had been asked to arrive.

    “I expect the prime minister (of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn) will facilitate dialogue between the two leaders,” Ban told a news conference in Juba, after saying Kiir had confirmed his readiness to meet Machar.

    An advisor to Desalegn also said Machar had given his word to the prime minister that he would attend.

    “He is 100 percent willing to come to Addis to discuss issues of peace, including talks with President Salva Kiir,” Getachew Reda told Reuters.

     

  • South Sudan : ‘Ethnic slaughter’ condemned

    South Sudan : ‘Ethnic slaughter’ condemned

    Hundreds of people were killed because of their ethnic group after South Sudan rebels seized the oil hub of Bentiu last week, the UN has said.

    They were targeted at a mosque, a church and a hospital, the UN Mission in South Sudan said in a statement.

    It added that hate speech was broadcast on local radio stations, saying certain groups should leave the town and urging men to rape women.

    The Nuer community are seen as supporters of rebel leader Riek Machar.

    In a civil war marked by numerous human rights abuses, the reports from Bentiu are among the most shocking.

    The rebels are accused of killing Dinkas (President Kiir’s ethnic group), Sudanese (because of the alleged support of Darfuri rebel groups for President Kiir) and Nuers who were not overtly cheering their fellow Nuer rebels.

    The victims hid in hospitals and places of worship, but did not find sanctuary there.

    Many of the rebels say they took up arms because of the murder of their relatives in Juba at the beginning of this conflict.

    Both sides have committed terrible abuses.

    However the scale of the killings carried out by rebel troops, including the feared White Army militia, in Bentiu, Bor and Malakal, has turned many people against the rebel leader, Riek Machar.

    With the rainy season approaching, and negotiations set to resume in Addis Ababa, there is likely to be more fighting – and very likely more atrocities – in the next few weeks.

    President Salva Kiir is a member of the country’s largest group, the Dinka.

    Although both men have prominent supporters from various communities, there have been numerous reports of rebels killing ethnic Dinkas and the army targeting Nuers since the conflict broke out in December 2013.

    Since then, more than a million people have fled their homes in what was already among the world’s poorest nations. Some 200 civilians were reportedly killed at the Kali-Ballee mosque where they had sought shelter.

    At the hospital, Nuer men, women and children, who hid rather than cheer the rebel forces as they entered the town, were also killed, it said.

    The UN’s top humanitarian official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, tweeted about “shocking scenes of atrocities” in Bantiu, saying “bodies of people executed still lie in the streets”.

    Many of those killed are understood to be Sudanese traders, especially from Darfur.

    Bentiu, capital of the oil-rich Unity State, has changed hands several times during the conflict.

    Control of the oilfields is crucial because South Sudan gets about 90% of its revenue from oil.

    A ceasefire was signed in January but there has been a recent upsurge in fighting.

    Last week, the UN said an attack on one of its bases in the central town of Bor in which at least 58 people were killed could constitute a war crime.

     

    Fighting broke out last year after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of plotting to stage a coup.

    Mr Machar, who was sacked as vice-president last year, denied the charges but launched a rebellion.

    The UN has about 8,500 peacekeepers in South Sudan, which became the world newest state after seceding from Sudan in 2011.

     

  • Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan and South Sudan have begun talks to deploy a joint force to protect oilfields in the South threatened by rebels, Sudan’s foreign minister said.

    Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir flew to South Sudan to discuss the unrest there with his counterpart, Salva Kiir.

    The conflict pits supporters of Mr Kiir against rebels led by his sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

    At least 1,000 people have been killed since violence erupted on December 15.

    The violence started after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of attempting a coup – an allegation he denies.

    Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced in the conflict, which has taken on ethnic undertones. Mr Kiir is from the majority Dinka community and Mr Machar from the Nuer group.

    Yesterday, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti said Mr Bashir and Mr Kiir were “in consultations about the deployment of a mixed force to protect the oilfields in the South”.

    However neither of the presidents referred to the proposal during their joint news conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

    When it seceded from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan ended up with most of the oilfields

    But it has to export the oil using pipelines through ports in Sudanss territory. The government in Khartoum now fears its oil revenue will be disrupted by the fighting in the South.

    The BBC’s South Sudan analyst James Copnall says it will be an extraordinary development if Sudanese forces return to the South.

    At least two million people died during the north-south conflict.

    Separately, the two warring parties in South Sudan have begun direct talks in Ethiopia aiming at a ceasefire.

    Analysts say that by seizing Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity State, the rebels have in effect been able to hold the country to ransom and made their bargaining position much stronger.

    However, not much progress has been made at the Ethiopia talks so far, Mr Kiir said at the news conference with President Bashir.

    He said his government would not meet Mr Machar’s demand to release 11 of his political allies accused of plotting a coup.

    They would be held accountable for the violence in South Sudan, Mr Kiir added.

    The BBC’s Alastair Leithead was with government troops when they were ambushed

    President Bashir called on the two sides to end the conflict through dialogue, saying Sudan would not back the rebels.

    China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also due to hold talks with the opposing factions, in an attempt to push them to agree to a cessation of hostilities.

    China is a major investor in South Sudan’s oil industry.

    Also yesterday, the South Sudanese government announced it had agreed to a cessation of hostilities with a rebel it has been fighting for nearly two years, David Yau Yau.

    It had been feared that Mr Yau Yau, who has troops in Jonglei state, would join the new rebellion.

    Mr Yau Yau previously said he took up arms to win greater rights for his Murle ethnic group, rather than to overthrow the government.

    In another development, the United Nations said militiamen had taken control of a UN food warehouse in Bentiu and that UN vehicles had been commandeered in the rebel-held town of Bor.

    “This makes it very, very difficult for us to continue our work – the sole purpose of which is reaching civilians in need,” said Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in South Sudan.

    Heavy fighting is continuing to the south of Bor, says the BBC’s Alastair Leithead, who was on the road between Juba and Bor.

    The rebels include a former military division made up of thousands of men who switched sides, our correspondent says.

    Until a ceasefire is agreed, fighting is expected to continue or even intensify, he adds.

    The latest trouble has its roots in tensions that go back long before 2011.

     

  • Sudan rivals meet for peace talks

    Sudan rivals meet for peace talks

    TAlks between South Sudan’s government and rebels are due to start later on Tuesday in Ethiopia, mediators say.

    The two sides are expected to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, they said.

    The talks are the first since conflict erupted two weeks ago between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

    At least 1,000 people have died and more than 121,600 are believed to have fled their homes.

    East African leaders have been leading mediation efforts to end the crisis.

    On Monday, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni threatened the rebels with military action if they failed to agree to a ceasefire by the end of Tuesday, and begin talks.

    Representatives of Mr Kiir and Mr Machar would meet in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to defuse tensions in South Sudan, the Ethiopian government said in a statement.

    “The two sides are expected to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities and peaceful resolution of the current political crisis,” the statement added.

    Earlier, Mr Machar told the BBC he would send a delegation to the talks, claiming his forces had captured the key town of Bor.

    But while he had agreed to negotiate, he said he would not order his troops to stop fighting.

    He had previously demanded 11 detainees accused of being co-conspirators in a coup plan be freed before negotiations.

    Mr Machar, who was deputy president until he was sacked in July, denies there was a plot – alleged by Mr Kiir.

    The fighting initially broke out in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, and has now spread to many parts of the country.

    The situation in Bor is fast-moving, but a government minister confirmed that the town had fallen to Mr Machar’s forces, reports the the BBC’s James Copnall from Juba.

     

     

     

    South Sudan President Salva Kiir told James Copnall a peaceful solution was still possible

    A UN spokesman said Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, had come under attack at day break, not far from the town’s UN compound.

    Mr Machar said his delegation to talks would be headed by Rebecca Nyandeng, the widow of John Garang, who led South Sudanese rebel forces against Khartoum for many years.

    Our reporter says as a Dinka she may help Mr Machar challenge the allegation that his rebellion is primarily from his Nuer ethnic group.

    Mr Machar’s forces are a mix of mutinous soldiers loyal to him and an ethnic militia called the “white army”, known for putting white ash onto their bodies as a kind of war-paint.

    Observers say the talks are likely to be complicated, as the two sides will have to agree on a mechanism to monitor a ceasefire.

    Mr Kiir has also ruled out any power-sharing arrangement with Mr Machar in the longer term.

    South Sudan is the world’s newest state. It was formed in 2011, gaining independence from Sudan after decades of conflict.

  • South Sudan: African mediators to meet Kiir’s rivals

    African mediators sought on Saturday to meet rivals to South Sudan’s president in a bid to end fighting that threatens to drag the world’s newest country into an ethnic civil war.

    Reuters reports that hundreds of people have been killed in nearly a week of clashes that spread from the capital Juba and have reached vital oilfields, deepening the most serious internal crisis since the state won independence from Sudan two years ago.

    President Salva Kiir, of the Dinka ethnic group, has accused his former vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer who was sacked in July, of trying to seize power.

    Although Juba, the capital, was calm on Saturday, United Nations staff said hundreds of people have been killed across the country the size of France and 35,000 civilians are sheltering at their bases.

    The United States was instrumental in securing South Sudan’s independence. In a sign of its concern, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was sending an envoy to help talks.

    On Friday, African mediators met President Kiir for what they called “productive” talks. His government said on its Twitter feed it was willing to hold talks with any rebel group.

    South Sudan’s foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the mediators had now been given the go-ahead to meet with Kiir’s rivals, including Machar and his allies.

    “Let them also get confirmation from them that they are willing to dialogue,” Benjamin told Reuters by phone, adding that Kiir would have no problem speaking to Machar.

     

  • Rebels take key South Sudan town

    South Sudanese rebels have taken over a key town, the military has said, as fighting continues after Sunday’s reported coup attempt.

    “Our soldiers have lost control of Bor to the force of Riek Machar,” said army spokesman Philip Aguer.

    President Salva Kiir has accused Mr. Machar, the former vice-president, of staging a coup – a claim he denied.

    The unrest, which began in the capital Juba, has already killed 500 people and sparked fears of a civil war.

    The United Nations has called for political dialogue to end the crisis, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said about 20,000 people had taken refuge in UN compounds in Juba.

    Britain and the United States have both sent planes to airlift their nationals out of the country, and a U.S defence official described the situation as “getting ugly.”

    Since independence, several groups have taken up arms against the South Sudanese government. It is not clear if any of these groups were involved in the capture of Bor.

    On Wednesday the mayor of Bor, Nicholas Nhial Majak, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that violence had spread there from Juba, 200km (125 miles) away.

    Bor is the capital of Jonglei state, and is seen as one of the most volatile areas of South Sudan.

    Overnight there were reports of gun battles in the town, as renegade officers fought with troops still loyal to the president.

     

  • South Sudan clashes ‘kill about 500’

    Hundreds of people are believed to have died in clashes between rival South Sudan army factions, the United Nations said, quoting unconfirmed reports.

    UN diplomats said they had been told by sources in the capital, Juba, that the death toll was between 400 and 500.

    BBC reports that South Sudan has seen two days of clashes following a reported coup attempt against President Salva Kiir.

    Fugitive opposition leader Riek Machar has denied government accusations that he tried to seize power.

    “What took place in Juba was a misunderstanding between presidential guards within their division, it was not a coup attempt,” he told the Sudan Tribune, a Paris-based news website, in an interview published on Wednesday.

    Mr. Machar, a former South-Sudanese vice-president who fell out with President Kiir in July, said he had no knowledge of or connection with any coup attempt.

    President Kiir has said a group of soldiers supporting Mr. Machar had tried to take power by force on Sunday night, but were defeated.

    Amid continuing clashes on Monday and Tuesday, the government said 10 senior political figures, including a former finance minister, had been arrested.

    Details of the fighting have been sketchy, but a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday was told that the clashes were “apparently largely along ethnic lines.”

     

  • Gunfire rocks South Sudan capital

    Heavy gunfire and explosions have been heard throughout the night in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

    Local media said the fighting was between rival factions of the presidential guard and focused around their military barracks.

    Army spokesman Col. Phillip Aguer said some army bases had come under attack, but the military was in full control, the Associated Press reports.

    The United Nations expressed concern and appealed for all sides to show restraint.

    South Sudan formally split from Sudan in 2011, after decades of conflict. Numerous armed groups remain active in the oil-rich country.

    BBC reports that tensions have been high since President Salva Kiir dismissed his entire cabinet, including his deputy Riek Machar, in July in an apparent power struggle.

    Mr. Machar had indicated he planned to contest the presidential elections in 2015.

    The fighting in Juba reportedly broke out overnight, and intensified in the early morning.

    The Paris-based Sudan Tribune said the clashes began when one unit of the presidential guard, who are mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, became suspicious of deployments of a group of mainly Dinka guards.

    Mr. Kiir is from the Dinka community, which is the largest in South Sudan, while Mr. Machar is from the Nuer, the second-largest.

    Some Nuer had complained about Dinka political domination.

    The Tribune said state TV was off air and the city’s airport was closed.

    The situation had reportedly calmed by mid-morning, but heavily armed troops were seen on the capital’s streets.