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Tag: South Sudan

  • 1st batch of 4,000 peacekeepers arrive war-torn South Sudan: UN scribe

    The first batch of 4,000 peacekeepers arrived war-torn South Sudan,  eight months after the Security Council authorised the deployment of extra troops.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made this known in a monthly report on the status of the deployment and obstacles facing some 13,000 peacekeepers already on the ground.

    Guterres said “the situation in the country has deteriorated at a rapid pace,”

    The 15-member Security Council approved the additional troops, known as a Regional Protection Force (RPF), in August 2016.

    The approval followed several days of heavy fighting in the capital Juba between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing former Vice President Riek Machar.

    The force is part of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which has been in South Sudan since its independence from Sudan in 2011.

    The country spiraled into civil war, with violence along ethnic lines, after Kiir sacked Machar in 2013.

    “Deployment of some of the first wave elements of the RPF … has begun,” Guterres said in the report.

    While it usually takes several months for the UN to get the troop contributions needed for a deployment, the world body has also had to contend with the South Sudanese government’s red tape and unwillingness to cooperate.

    “It is indeed unfortunate that the first troops associated with the RPF have only begun to arrive eight months after they were initially mandated by the Security Council,” Guterres said in the report.

    He added that as of May 15 there were 31 members of the Bangladesh Construction Engineering Company on the ground.

    The Security Council had threatened to impose an arms embargo if Kiir’s government did not cooperate with the deployment or allow peacekeepers already on the ground to move freely to protect civilians.

    The U.S. put the measure to a vote in December it failed to get the nine votes needed to pass.

    Guterres said that UNMISS “continued to be obstructed and restricted in some cases encountering aggression from government forces.”

    He also said humanitarian aid deliveries were being hindered.

    The UN estimates about three million South Sudanese, a quarter of the population, have fled their homes, parts of the oil-producing country are in famine and top UN officials have warned of a possible genocide.

     

  • Sudan hosts 140,000 S. Sudanese refugees

    Sudan hosts 140,000 S. Sudanese refugees

    The Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) said neighbouring Sudan’s White Nile State is now hosting 140,000, South Sudanese refugees.

    Mohamed Al-Sheikh, HAC commissioner in White Nile state, made this known while addressing newsmen.

    Al-Sheikh said: “The White Nile State has established eight camps to accommodate the continuing influxes of refugees from South Sudan.”

    He reiterated that local authorities are providing all services, including food, education, health and water, to the refugees.

    The official also said there were no security problems inside the refugee camps in White Nile, denying previous reports about spread of diseases such as watery diarrhoea because of the intensive presence of refugees.

    The White Nile State has been witnessing continued influxes of refugees fleeing the war and famine in South Sudan.

    Al-Alagaiya refugee camp of al-Jabalain locality, some 110 km south of Rabak, the capital city of White Nile State, is accommodating some 15,000 South Sudanese refugees.

    “About 5,000 South Sudanese families live in the camp making a total of around 15,000 refugees,” Abbasher Al-Nour, deputy chairman of Al-Alagaiya refugee camp, told Xinhua.

    “The HAC provides all necessary services for the population in the camp, where until now, matters are progressing well without any security problems.

    “There is a high level of coordination between all the security bodies, the HAC authorities, the commission of refugees, the UN and national organisations,” he noted.

    Meanwhile, Martha Simon, a South Sudanese refugee living in Al-Alagaiya camp, told Xinhua that her family are feeling at home at the camp.

    “We have been living in this camp for about three years. Everything is good and we do not feel like strangers because we were part of Sudan and we still feel like we are home,” she said.

    Adam Joub, another South Sudanese refugee, also expressed contentment.

    “We headed to Sudan which received us without any complications. We receive all the necessary services and security is available. Our children receive proper education. We thank the Government of Sudan for this generosity,” he said.

    On Monday, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said around 20,000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Sudan’s border areas within one week to flee the violence at the Upper Nile area near Sudan’s White Nile state.

    “Nearly 20,000 South Sudanese refugees reportedly arrived in White Nile and South Kordofan states between April 29 and May 6,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its most recent report citing latest refugee figures by UNHCR.

    About 1,300 refugees arrive daily in White Nile from Shilluk area through Joda and Migainis areas in Upper Nile, according to the report.

    OCHA expected arrival of 180,000 new refugees in Sudan by the end of 2017.

    Sudanese authorities put the number of South Sudanese refugees in Sudan at about 600,000 and expect continued influxes from its violence-plagued neighboring country.

  • War forces two million South Sudanese children to flee

    The UN says war and famine have forced more than two million children in South Sudan to flee their homes, creating the most worrying refugee crisis in the world.

    The civil war in the oil-producing country began two years after it won independence from neighboring Sudan,when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy in 2013.

    The fighting that followed split the country along ethnic lines, spurred hyperinflation and plunged parts of the nation into famine, creating Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

    Valentin Tapsoba, the Africa chief for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a statement said: “no refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan.”

    The UN said in a country of 12 million people, nearly three in every four children do not go to school.

    The UN also said that no fewer than one million children have fled outside South Sudan while another one million are internally displaced.

    UNHCR and UNCEF also said more than a thousand children have been killed in the fighting.

    The true figure may be much higher since there are no accurate death tolls available for South Sudan, one of the world’s least developed nations.

    Many South Sudanese refugees have fled into neighbouring Uganda, Kenya, Sudan or Ethiopia, nations which are already struggling to provide enough food and resources for their own populations.

  • FIFA World Rankings: Nigeria remains 40th

    FIFA World Rankings: Nigeria remains 40th

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles have remained on the 40th spot with 726 points in the May FIFA World Rankings released on Thursday.

    According to the rankings table on the website of the world football governing body, Nigeria remained unmoved from the spot it occupied in the April rankings.

    The position has also left Nigeria on the 5th spot in the continent behind Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso respectively.

    The Super Eagles Media officer, Toyin Ibitoye, reacting to the rankings said it was a reflection of what happened in the month under review.

    “The ranking have come again and the Super Eagles were ranked 40th in the World and 5th in Africa, the same position we were as at the last ranking.

    “I think it is nothing to worry about. In the month reviewed, nothing happened and there were no friendly games and no official games.

    “The new FIFA ranking is a reflection of what happened during the month, but we will continue to do what we are doing to work and prepare the team.

    “We are ready for the challenges coming up. Next month will be very busy for us; we will be going to camp for training.

    Ibitoye said that the Eagles would concentrate more on the task ahead which were qualifiers for the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    “We will concentrate on preparing for the crucial game against Bafana Bafana of South Africa. This will be the qualifiers towards the 2018 Nations Cup.

    “But last month’s assessment by FIFA is justifiable because it has been a quiet month for the teams in international front,’’ he said.

    On the global scene, it was a quiet month on the international front with only seven games played.

    The top 20 places remained static following April, with a one-place drop for Slovakia (24) into accounting for the only movement inside the leading 73 nations.

    Bolivia (73, plus 1) brought about that small ripple of motion, but outside the top 100 there were some notable changes.

    A pair of wins for Madagascar (111, plus 9) over Malawi (114, minus 14) saw them claim the titles of the month’s biggest movers up and down the table respectively.

    Also, South Sudan (146, plus 8) is not far behind after similarly twice seeing off Somalia (206, unchanged).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on June 1, 2017. (

     

  • South Sudan refugees release UN Congo mission staff

    The UN says South Sudanese refugees on Wednesday released 13 staff members of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) who were held hostage on Tuesday.

    UN peacekeeping spokeswoman Ismini Palla on Wednesday said: “the camp is quiet and under full control of MONUSCO.

    “All staff have returned safely to their homes. No casualties have been reported. The mission is investigating the incident.”

    The UN estimates about three million South Sudanese have been uprooted by the violence in their country, the biggest cross-border exodus in Africa since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

    UN Goma bureau head Daniel Ruiz told Reuters that they were among 530 people who have been living in the Munigi base, outside Goma, since fleeing South Sudan last August.

    Most are former fighters loyal to former vice president Riek Machar, who have clashed with President Salva Kiir’s forces since July 2016.

    Ruiz said the camp occupants had been demanding for months to be moved to a third country, but no one would take them.

    Congo’s government, mindful of threats to its stability from past refugee influxes, and from the armed groups that frequently roam its lawless east, is also keen to move them.

    On Friday, eight of them agreed to be repatriated to South Sudan’s capital Juba.

    Others fear going back and are frustrated at being confined in the tiny camp in eastern Congo.

     

     

  • World Bank to raise $1.6b to combat hunger in Nigeria, others

    World Bank Group President Jim Yong-Kim on Thursday said the bank was working toward raising 1.6 billion dollars to build social protection systems to end food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen.

    In a statement made available to newsmen by the Head of Communications, World Bank Nigeria in Abuja, Mrs Olufunke Olufon, Yong-Kim said about 20 million people in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen were on the “tipping point” of famine.

    “We at the World Bank Group stand in solidarity with the people now threatened by famine.

    “We are mobilizing an immediate response for Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. Our first priority is to work with partners to make sure that families have access to food and water.

    “We are working toward a financial package of more than 1.6 billion dollars to build social protection systems, strengthen community resilience, and maintain service delivery to the most vulnerable.’’

    Yong-Kim said he was also working with the bank’s board of directors to secure the approval of new operations amounting to 770 million dollars, funded substantially through the International Development Association (IDA) Crisis Response Window.

    “The World Bank Group will help respond to the immediate needs of the current famine, but we must recognize that famine will have lasting impacts on people’s health, ability to learn, and earn a living.

    “So, we will also continue to work with communities to reclaim their livelihoods and build resilience to future shocks. We are coordinating closely with the UN and other partners in all areas of our response.

    “We know that resolution to this acute crisis will not be possible without all humanitarian and development actors working together.

    “We call on the international community to respond robustly and quickly to the UN global appeal for resources for the famine.’’

    Famine was officially declared on Feb. 20 in South Sudan, impacting approximately 100,000 people.

    There is a credible risk of famines in Yemen, Northeast Nigeria, and other countries, says United Nations (UN).

    Ongoing conflicts and civil insecurity are further intensifying the food insecurity of millions of people across the region, and there is already widespread displacement and other cross-border spill over.

    For instance, food insecurity in Somalia and famine in South Sudan are accelerating the flow of refugees into Ethiopia and Uganda.

    The UN estimates that about 20 million people in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen are affected.

     

  •  1.4 million Children at imminent risk of death – UNICEF

     1.4 million Children at imminent risk of death – UNICEF

    Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday.

    In a statement Tuesday which was signed by UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake said time is running out for more than a million children, adding that more lives   can be saved.

    He said severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made. “Our common humanity demands faster action. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa.”

    He noted that in the northeast Nigeria, the number of children with severe acute malnutrition is expected to reach 450,000 this year in the conflict-affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

    He  said late last year that famine likely occurred in some previously inaccessible areas of Borno states, stressing that that it is likely ongoing, and will continue, in other areas which remain beyond humanitarian reach.

    Lake said: “In Somalia, drought conditions are threatening an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict. Almost half of the population or 6.2 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and in the need of humanitarian assistance.

    “Some 185,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, however, this figure is expected to rise to 270,000 in the next few months. In South Sudan, a country reeling from conflict, poverty and insecurity, over 270,000 children are severely malnourished.

    “Famine has just recently been declared in parts of Unity State in the northern central part of the country, where 20,000 children live. The total number of food insecure people across the country is expected to rise from 4.9 million to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.

    “This year, UNICEF is working with partners to provide therapeutic treatment to 220,000 severely malnourished children in Nigeria. Over 200,000 severely malnourished children in South Sudan and more than 200,000 severely malnourished children in Somalia, and 320,000 children in Yemen.”

  • South Sudan: AP journalist deported, says it is over his reporting

    South Sudan: AP journalist deported, says it is over his reporting

    South Sudan on Wednesday deported a journalist, Justin Lynch working for the international Associated Press news agency, and he said it was because his reporting was critical of the government.

    Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said he was not aware of such a deportation and could not comment.

    Journalists in South Sudan have often complained of harassment by the authorities during the civil conflict.

    According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2015, five journalists were killed in South Sudan.

    “Yesterday I was arrested and deported by members of South Sudan’s National Security Service.

    “The officers did not officially present me with a reason for my arrest and deportation, but repeatedly said that my reporting was too critical of the government.

    “As an international journalist, it is an unfortunate reality that I am privileged compared to my brave South Sudanese colleagues, who are frequently the victim of intimidation or even death.

    “This is a violation of press freedom,’’ Justin Lynch said on his Twitter account.

    South Sudan, which won independence in 2011, plunged into civil conflict in December 2013 after a long-running political feud between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, who are from different ethnic groups.

    However much of the fighting ran along ethnic lines, meanwhile, a peace deal was signed in 2015 but proved shaky from the outset.

    Weeks after Machar flew back to Juba this year to return to his former post, fighting again erupted in July.

    However, Machar has since left the country and been replaced.

    Associated Press defended Lynch’s reporting from the country.

    “Any move to suppress legitimate journalism and truthful reporting shedding light on humanitarian crimes is wrong and should be condemned.

    “We hope that the government of South Sudan will reconsider its actions,’’ it quoted Ian Phillips, its vice president for international news, as saying in a story about Lynch’s deportation.

    In November, security officials temporarily shut down Eye Radio in Juba, a popular radio station set up with U.S. backing, without giving a reason.

    In September, the authorities shut the Nation Mirror newspaper without giving a reason, although it followed coverage of a report by a U.S.-based group alleging misuse of state funds by the nation’s leaders.

    However, it remained closed.

    In July, authorities detained a newspaper editor for writing articles that criticised the country’s leaders over a flare-up in violence that month.

    Another newspaper, the Juba Monitor, has been closed temporarily on several occasions.

    Recently, a senior official at the UN commission on human rights said that ethnic cleansing was taking place in some areas of South Sudan.

    According to the official, the stage is set for a repeat of genocide like the one that happened in Rwanda.

  • Buhari seeks stronger commitment for South Sudan’s peace

    Buhari seeks stronger commitment for South Sudan’s peace

    …Says Nigeria ‘ll continue to support the peace process

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday called for stronger commitment to the implementation of the peace process in South Sudan.

    He also assured that the Federal Government of Nigeria will remain steadfast in following up to ensure that the country regains stability.

    Buhari spoke in Abuja while receiving the Letter of Credence of the Ambassador of the Republic of South Sudan, Mr. Paul Malong Akaro, at the State House.

    The President, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that delay in implementing the peace accord had affected the development of the country in spite of the lofty potentials for growth.

    He said: ‘‘I was a little disappointed with the subsequent developments in your country. I was hoping that we can move forward and develop the great potentials of your country after the peace accord.

    ‘‘The African Union will continue to hold your leaders to account in implementing the peace process. And the leaders should be able to accommodate one another for the good of your people,’’ the President said.

    He told the ambassador that the peace process would be most effective when accepted and implemented by leaders from within the country, without external interventions.

    In his remarks, Mr. Akaro said the government of national unity in South Sudan was still committed to the peace process in the country.

    ‘‘We know that the only way we can achieve stability and development is to implement the peace process. We are grateful for your support,’’ he said.

    The President, who also received the Letter of Credence of the Ambassador of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mr. Malainine Sadik-Bachir, said Nigeria will continue to support the country as it strives to realize its goals of development.

    ‘‘You can be assured that Nigeria will remain steadfast in her support for Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. We will continue to do our best for you,’’ he said.

  • 21 aid workers abducted from UN compound in South Sudan

    Lam Tungwar, Information Minister for Northern Liech State, South Sudan, on Tuesday confirmed that 21 humanitarian workers were abducted by gunmen over the weekend.

    Tungwar said in Juba that youths allied to opposition leader Riek Machar overrun the town of Nhialdiu on Sunday and abducted the aid workers who were residing in a UN compound.

    He said that the abductees included one Kenyan national while the rest were South Sudanese working for different aid agencies.

    “It was a surprise attack on Sunday where they overrun the town and looted property.

    “Twenty one humanitarian workers residing in the UN OCHA compound were taken away.

    “The government is trying its best to rescue them.”

    He added that the gunmen also attacked the town of Koch, looting homes and burning over 40 huts.

    The northern region of South Sudan has exchanged hands several times between government troops led by President Salva Kiir and opposition forces loyal to Machar during civil war that broke out in December 2013.

    More than 100,000 displaced people are living under the protection of civilian site in Bentiu town of the northern region, according to the latest figures by the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

    Meanwhile, a peace deal signed between Kiir and Machar under UN pressure last year, led to the formation of a unity government in April, but was shattered by renewed fighting that erupted in early July.

    Machar, who had returned to his old post as Kiir’s deputy in the unity government, was sacked again and he fled the country after the July fighting.

    He is now residing in South Africa and has asked his supporters to launch a rebellion.

    Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million displaced since late 2013.