IGAD gives Sudan’s warring factions 2 weeks to meet

SEEMS the following demands made at today's (Saturday) IGAD meeting in Kampala, Uganda occurred after Sudan suspended its membership of IGAD:

"In a communique, read by Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, the heads of states, including Presidents William Ruto of Kenya and Salva Kiir of South Sudan, along with representatives of the European Union, African Union and the United Nations, outlined their demands to the warring factions.

According to the communique, the conflict must be resolved by the Sudanese without any external interference. The IGAD leaders condemned the ongoing conflict that has caused suffering, with people losing hope and the state about to collapse". Read more.

From Observer Uganda

Written by VOA (Voice of America)

Dated Saturday, 20 January 2024 - here is a copy in full:

IGAD gives Sudan’s warring factions two weeks to meet

South Sudan President Salva Kiir at IGAD meeting

East Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has given Sudan’s warring factions two weeks to meet face-to-face to de-escalate the situation.

The meeting, which also discussed the tension between Ethiopia and Somalia, made it clear that Somalia’s integrity must be respected. The IGAD meeting in Kampala described the conflict and political tension in the Horn of Africa and Sudan as a disturbing, senseless and devastating development.

Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, also the IGAD chairperson, said the group’s heads of state met with a sense of urgency as the region grapples with challenging times. The conflict in Sudan broke out in April between the national army, led by Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Gen Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces. Since then, 7 million people have been displaced and 12,000 have been killed.

Sudan suspended its participation in the Kampala IGAD summit, accusing the regional body of violating its sovereignty and setting a dangerous precedent.

In a communique, read by Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, the heads of states, including Presidents William Ruto of Kenya and Salva Kiir of South Sudan, along with representatives of the European Union, African Union and the United Nations, outlined their demands to the warring factions.

According to the communique, the conflict must be resolved by the Sudanese without any external interference. The IGAD leaders condemned the ongoing conflict that has caused suffering, with people losing hope and the state about to collapse.

The Rapid Support Forces has specifically been accused of mass killings and use of rape as a weapon of war, especially in Darfur. Both parties have been accused of war crimes. Meanwhile, IGAD expressed concern about relations between Ethiopia and Somalia.

Early this month, Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, giving Ethiopia access to the sea. In return, Ethiopia would consider recognizing Somaliland as an independent country. IGAD reaffirmed that any such agreement should be with Somalia.

Mike Hammer, the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, said the US is particularly concerned that the agreement could disrupt the fight that Somalis, Africa and regional partners are waging against the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

"We have already seen troubling indications that al-Shabab is using the MOU to generate new recruits," he said. "We urge both sides to avoid precipitous actions including related to existing Ethiopian force deployment to Somalia that could create opportunities for al-Shabab to expand its reach within Somalia and into Ethiopia."

The African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat urged both Somalia and Ethiopia to engage without delay, saying the tension compounds an already difficult time for the region.

View original: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/80338-igad-gives-sudan-s-warring-factions-two-weeks-to-meet

ENDS

Sudan Coup Crisis: UN chief appoints Nicholas Haysom to help African Union mediation in Sudan

• UN Chief Appoints Adviser to Help AU Mediation in Sudan
• Report from Voice of America.com
• By Margaret Besheer
• Published Tuesday April 16, 2019 5:45 PM 
• The U.N. secretary-general has appointed special adviser Nicholas Haysom to support the African Union's mediation efforts in Sudan, where the military ousted longtime President Omar al-Bashir last week.
• "He is being put at disposal of the African Union, which we understand will be engaged in some mediation capacity between the transitional council in Khartoum and various parts of Sudanese society," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday. "Mr. Haysom will be there to support them in whatever way he can."
• He said that U.N. chief António Guterres had spoken Monday with Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union Commission, and told him that Haysom would be available.
• "The secretary-general is very attached to his partnership with the African Union and he will do whatever he can to support their efforts," Dujarric said.
• Haysom was most recently the U.N.'s top man in Somalia, but was expelled after four months by the Somali federal government, after he tried to intervene on behalf of a former al-Shabab leader who sought to take part in elections but was banned by Somalia's electoral commission.
• Haysom, a South African lawyer, was previously the U.N. special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and was head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.
• The African Union Peace and Security Council issued a strong statement Monday condemning the military takeover in Sudan as an unconstitutional change of government, and demanding the military hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority within 15 days.
• Failure to do so, the AU warned, would result in Sudan's suspension from participation in all African Union activities until constitutional order is restored.
• Sudan's General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, head of the Rapid Support Forces, is sworn-in as the appointed deputy of Sudan's Transitional Military Council, standing before the head of transitional council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
• Meanwhile, in Khartoum Tuesday, the country's new military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, fired the country's top prosecutor in an apparent concession to demonstrators' demands.
• Protest leaders have called for the new ruling military council to be dissolved and replaced by a civilian one, in the wake of the military coup that ousted President al-Bashir last week.
• Mohamed Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) — the main group behind months of protests against al-Bashir — said the group wants to see a civic council formed that includes representatives from the army.
• On Sunday, Sudan's military council said it would name a civilian prime minister and cabinet minister to help run the country but would not name a civilian to the office of the president. A military spokesman also said the council would not stop the demonstrations that are continuing.
• The SPA has called for more demonstrations until its demands are met.
• The protests began Dec. 19, with demonstrators accusing al-Bashir's government of economic mismanagement that sparked skyrocketing food prices, and fuel and foreign currency shortages.
• Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with atrocities in the western region of Darfur. However, the military leaders have said he will not be turned over to the ICC, but will instead be tried in Sudan.
• Source:  https://www.voanews.com/a/un-chief-appoints-adviser-to-help-au-mediation-in-sudan/4878727.html
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• 
  
• Updates
• Uganda willing to offer Al-Bashir asylum
• Here below is a link to a video report plus a copy of an accompanying written report by SABC Digital News published at Google’s YouTube on Tuesday, 16 April 2019:
• “The government of Uganda says it is willing to consider granting asylum to deposed Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir. It says, this in appreciation for his role in the South-Sudan peace deal. Uganda's State Minister for foreign affairs Henry Okello Oryem, said on Tuesday in Kampala, that if al-Bashir applied for asylum in Uganda his government could consider the matter. We are now joined LIVE for more on this story by Correspondent Michale Baleke from Kampala, Uganda.”
  Click here to view the video:  https://youtu.be/CLHWaD87WtU
  South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is funded in whole or in part by the South African government. Wikipedia
• Also, posted on this blog’s sister sites UGANDA WATCH and CONGO WATCH.
• - - -
  
  Ex-President Omar al-Bashir moved to prison
  Here is a copy of a report by BBC News online published Wednesday April 17, 2019 11:50 GMT UK:
• Sudan's former President Omar al-Bashir has been moved to Kobar maximum security prison, days after he was deposed in a military coup. Reports say the ex-leader has until now been detained at the presidential residence under heavy guard.
  He is reportedly being held in solitary confinement and is surrounded by tight security.
  Months of protests in Sudan led to the ousting and arrest of the long-time ruler on Thursday.
  Uganda's Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Oryem Okello told Reuters news agency the country would consider offering the deposed leader asylum if he applied, despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  As an ICC member, Uganda would have to hand over Mr Bashir if he arrived in the country. The ICC has not yet commented.”
  Click here to read the full story and live updates at BBC News online:
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47961424

URGENT MESSAGE TO PRESIDENTS BASHIR & KIIR - Shocking video of the LRA hunting children in Sudan

ONE of the world's most brutal terrorist groups, Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is on the move from the Congo, terrorising civilians.

The below listed report from TIME.com, Tuesday, 07 September 2010, contains a shocking video entitled "The Lord's Resistance Army Hunts Children in Sudan".

Click here (and wait for end of short advert) to hear Ed Robbins reporting for TIME.com from Western Equatoria State, southern Sudan.

Please replay the video and listen carefully to a message for everyone. The message is from a deeply traumatised Sudanese boy. The boy's name is Moses. Moses was abducted, attacked, hurt all over and stabbed with a bayonet by LRA terrorists. The terrorists forced Moses to kill a young girl. The girl was aged 7 or 8. If he did not kill the girl, they would kill him. The heart wrenching message from Moses says:

"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"

Replay the video again and imagine yourself as Moses. The flat deadened tone of his voice is haunting. After viewing the report for the first time yesterday and working on it today at Sudan Watch, Uganda Watch and Congo Watch, I can't get Moses out of my mind. His trauma seeped into my bones as I imagined how he must have felt, what his future holds, and how he will think and be haunted for the rest of his life. I find this report deeply distressing and disturbing. I cannot understand why so many people are powerless when it comes to stopping the LRA. How someone like Joseph Kony manages to stay alive is beyond my comprehension. The stresses and strains he has gone through in his lifetime are unimaginable. A living hell, I guess.

See further devastating reports and photos here below.
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Balancing Counterterrorism and Democracy in Uganda
Time.com - Tuesday, 07 September 2010
By Ioannis Gatsiounis in Kampala, Uganda

Photo: Mourners bury Alice Kyalimpa, a victim of the July 11, 2010, terrorist attacks that tore through a restaurant and rugby club in Uganda's capital Ronald Kabuubi/Reuters. Source: TIME.com report September 07, 2010 "Balancing Counterterrorism and Democracy in Uganda". To view the full report, click on the link above or visit TIME.com. If the report has moved, view a copy filed on September 08, 2010 at Uganda Watch or Congo Watch (sister sites of Sudan Watch).

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LRA KILL 8 IN YAMBIO, W. EQUATORIA, S. SUDAN -
More Ugandan PDF forces to be deployed



WES Yambio: LRA Raid And Kill 8 citizens
Report from South Sudan Analysis (SOSA) - Monday, 06 September 2010:

(YAMBIO) – Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have killed 8 people during weekend raids in Southern Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, a local official said.

Around 6 LRA fighters attacked the market village of Rii-Bodo on Saturday, killing 8 civilians, said Lexon Amozai, State Director of Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Western Equatoria State.

The horrifying murders come in the wake of an LRA ambush at a near-by small stream of Nahua.

On Friday the rebels launched a similar assault on the village of Gangura.

“They killed 8 people there, among them two women. There were no soldiers deployed there, so they attacked the civilians,” Mr Amozai said.

A Uganda-led coalition including Congo and South Sudan launched a joint offensive against LRA strongholds in Congo’s isolated Garamba National Park on December 14 after LRA leader Joseph Kony again failed to sign a deal to end his rebellion. However, the operation has failed to arrest Joseph Kony.

In the same weekend related attacks were carried on Sunday at James Diko and Naakiri Bomas under Bangasu payam during a final funeral of one of the LRA Victims.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.

Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, state governor of Western Equatoria state with deeply sorrow and regrets expressed his dissatisfaction for the death of 8 WES citizens of Rii-Bodo on Saturday.

In a press statement, Col Bangasi said that, “it is painful to see such barbaric killings by the notorious LRA fighters on the innocent citizens of western Equatoria more especially as referendum gets around the corner.”

He called upon all the youth to stand up in order to provide security to the state from the marauding LRA and the state Government in collaboration with the UPDF and SPLA.

Security sources say soon the state government “will deploy forces around the payams and Bomas.”

Bakosoro assured the citizens that, “more forces of the Ugandan People Defense (UPDF) forces will be deployed around the most attacked areas of the Bomas.”

He cautioned the forestry department to ensure that “all timber cutters are removed from the forest of the state because it makes no sense for the LRA to be killing people leaving them (timber companies) unharmed hence some might be spices of the LRA.”

Meanwhile the Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies Colonel Wilson Sidigi said that he will ensure that support is given to the villagers’ security.

Sidigi promised that he will organize with the County Commissioners of Yambio and Nzara to encouraged the youth to stand firm as the security of the State is in the hands of every citizen of the state.

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LRA Kill Eight In Yambio
Report from SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - Tuesday, 07 September 2010:

(YAMBIO) – About eight people were killed in attacks allegedly perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army over the weekend in outskirts of Yambio town.

The Western Equatoria state Minister of Information and Communication, Gibson Bullen Wande, spoke to SRS from Yambio on Tuesday.

[Gibson Bullen Wande]: “The LRA appeared between Gangura and a place called Baite, attacked the village and killed three people, so now we are seeing how we are going to handle it. Then on Saturday in the evening, the LRA appeared about 7 kilometers away from Yambio town in a place called Riibodoo. They came into the house of a chief with his in-laws. All of them were beaten to death and one person was abducted. So the total number of people that we have established to have been killed during the two attacks of last week has now come to eight so far.”

Gibson Bullen Wande was speaking to SRS from Yambio on Tuesday.

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LRA rebels kill eight in South Sudan raid, local official says
Report from Sudan Tribune online - Tuesday, 07 September 2010
By Richard Ruati - excerpt:

(YAMBIO - September 06, 2010) - The Ugandan rebels Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has killed eight people in raids over the weekend in South Sudan’s state of Western Equatoria, a local official has said.

The LRA, which is a sectarian religious and military group from northern Uganda, has a history of committing atrocities in the region.

It began as an Acholi tribe rebel movement seeking to overthrow the Ugandan Government. What it stands for now is a matter of debate but in 2005 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first five arrest warrants for LRA leader, Joseph Kony, his deputy and three of his commanders.

Around six LRA fighters attacked the market village of Rii-Bodo at about 2:00 am (local time) on Saturday, 4 August, and killed civilians, said Lexon Amozai who is the state director of the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Western Equatoria State. The murders took place after an LRA ambush at the nearby Nahua stream.

On Friday, the rebels launched a similar assault on the village of Gangura. "They killed eight people there, among them two women. There were no soldiers deployed there, so they attacked the civilians," Amozai said.

A Uganda-led coalition including Congo and South Sudan launched a joint offensive against the LRA strongholds in Congo’s isolated Garamba National Park on December 14, after LRA leader Kony again failed to sign a peace deal. However, the operation has failed to arrest Kony.

On Sunday, August 5, related attacks were carried out in James Diko, Naakiri Bomas and during the funeral of one of the LRA victims in Bangasu. [...]

Security sources say that the state government’s deployment of "forces around the payams [villages] and Bomas,” is imminent.

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"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"



Photo: Gulu victim. The LRA use torture to instil fear. Uganda's rebel LRA has become synonymous with torture, abductions and killings. (BBC photo/Sudan Watch archives)



Photo: Two young boy's get treated for severe burn wounds in the Lira hospital in northern Uganda, 23 February 2004, after a massacre believed to be committed by the LRA in the Barlonyo camp 26 kilometers north of the town that killed at least 200 people. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo/Sudan Watch archive)



Photo: Ochola John was deformed by rebels from the LRA. (BBC) Click here to read the victim's heartbreaking testimony published at BBC News online on 29 June 2006. If the report has moved, click here to read a copy filed on 30 June 2006 at Uganda Watch, a sister site of this blog Sudan Watch.



Photo: Leader of the LRA peace delegation Martin Ojul, left, is welcomed back home at Koch Goma in Amuru. (AP Photo) Source: Report from Time.com - Saturday, 10 November 2007, by Alexis Okeowo in Gulu. Excerpt:

Sixteen years ago, Irene Abonyo was held down to the ground and her lips and ears viciously sliced off by rebels in northern Uganda. But 70-year old Abonyo is in a forgiving mood. She attended a steamy, overcrowded town-hall meeting to see, on better terms this time, one of the world's most terrifying rebel groups, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). After a dialogue, she went over to shake the hand of a former LRA fighter. He held her hand, but refused to have his picture taken with the disfigured woman. "I will still forgive," Abonyo explains. "They are embarrassed of what they have done." Full story by Alexis Okeowo (Gulu, N. Uganda) published at TIME.com on Saturday, 10 November 2007: "Forgiving the Lord's Resistance Army"

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"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"

Last month, Human Rights Watch said the LRA had killed more than 250 people in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo over the previous year and a half. It said nearly 700 others were kidnapped and forced to be either soldiers or sex slaves. Full story at Voice of America News (VOA) online, Tuesday, 07 September 2010: "LRA Kills 8 in Southern Sudan".



Photo: Southern Sudanese wait for food, shelter, security and medicine at the village of Nzara, along Sudan's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 18 August 2010. Thousands have fled their nearby villages since a recent series of attacks by guerrilla fighters believed to be from the Lord's Resistance Army. (Peter Martell/AFP/Getty Images) Full story by Alan Boswell (Nzara, South Sudan) published at TIME.com on Tuesday, 31 August 2010: "The Ruthless Guerrilla Movement That Won't Die".

Sudan arrests Somali Islamist leader while trying to escape to Eritrea

Sudan arrests Somali Islamist leader while trying to escape to Eritrea
Report from Sudan Tribune, Sunday, 14 March 2010:

March 13, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security services arrested a Somali Islamist leader while he was attempting to cross border to Eritrea, a Somali outlet reported today from Mogadishu.

Muse Abdi Arale, the secretary for defence of Hizbul Islam group has been arrested in Sudan while trying to enter in Eritrea with money embezzled from the rebel group.

Sheikh Hassan Mahdi, a senior official from Hizbul Islam told Mareeg Online that the Sudanese police arrested Arale while he was trying to cross the eastern Sudan border and reach Eritrea.

Muse Arale embezzled the money from the group and travelled from Mogadishu by car to Kenya from where he entered south Sudan and then reached Khartoum secretly.

Led by Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hizbul Islam is facing a leadership crisis inside since the defection of Sheikh Hassan Abdulahi Al-Turki, a notorious Islamist guerrilla leader to Al-Shebab early this year.

Last week, a senior insurgent leader from Hizbul Islam, Bare Ali Bar, has been shot to death in Mogadishu at Bakara market which is a stronghold of Al-Shebab rebels.

The gunmen shot the Hizbul Islam military leader several times in the head and escaped on foot. No one has yet claimed responsibility. But Somali say Bare was an outspoken critic to the Al-Shebab, a former ally of Hizbul Islam.

Formed by four groups to fight the UN backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the Hizub Islam is witnessing power struggle and divisions since last year. (ST)

Further reading

Somalia. Senior official absconds money from Islamist group
From Mareeg Online, 26 February 2010:

MOGADISHU (Mareeg) - Hizbul Islam former secretary of defense Sheikh Muse Abdi Aralle has absconded money from the Islamist group, sources said on Friday.

Sheikh Muse Abdi Arale, an outspoken figure of the group has been seen in Khartoum and has reportedly changed his name.



Sheik Muse Abdi Arale ex militia leader (photo file)

The sources said he has taken 700 thousand US dollars from the rebel group and is currently in Khartoum while he has changed his name into Sheikh Isse.

Mr. Arale entered Sudan in illegal way as he couldn’t leave from Mogadishu airport where the Somali government controls.

The move came after the Islamist rebel man met threats coming from other militants. Mareeg Online

See Sudan Watch, 01 April 2009: Qatari PM says Al-Qaeda would be "happy to see Sudan become like Iraq" - Somali opposition leader quits Eritrea for Sudan - Somalia's hardline Islamist opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has quit self-imposed exile in Eritrea for neighbouring Sudan and may return to Mogadishu soon.

Al-Shabab: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya

A militant Islamic group associated with al Qaeda has threatened to attack Israel, far from its normal base of operations in Somalia. CNN writes that Al-Shabab, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of “starting to destroy” the Al Aqsa mosque, where standoffs have recently been taking place between Israeli police and Palestinians.

The mosque is part of the complex that Jews called the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif. The group also threatened other African nations on Friday, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

Source: Afrik.com Monday 2 November 2009 - Somalia: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya
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(AFP photo) This still image provided by SITE, an organization which monitors Islamist websites, from a video entitled 'At Your Service Osama' released 20 Sep 2009, shows Abu Mansur al-Amriki (R) teaching mujahedeen small unit tactics.

Source: Voice of America report by Alisha Ryu (Nairobi) 27 October 2009 - Uganda Tightens Security Following Al-Shabab Threat