Politics

Will South Sudan know peace? Questions asked as Kiir and Machar sign accord to end brutal war

South Sudan’s warring parties signed a peace deal granting rebels key positions in a transitional government, the latest bid to end an almost five-year conflict that’s claimed tens of thousands of lives

Published

5 years ago

August 6, 2018

Africa News Watch

The accord will restore rebel leader Riek Machar as President Salva Kiir’s deputy, while appointing four other vice presidents and adding new posts for ministers and lawmakers. Following the collapse of a similar pact in July 2016, it will be the second attempt at a power-sharing government since the start of the civil war in the East African nation.

Kiir and Machar signed the deal -which came after weeks of incremental agreements — Sunday in Khartoum, the capital of neighboring Sudan. Other opposition politicians and rebel groups also took part in the ceremony.

“We shall rededicate ourselves soberly, our people, and go for peaceful transforming of power through dialogue and ballot boxes rather than the bullets of the guns,” Kiir said after signing.

Celebrations erupted late Sunday in the streets of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, where a peace agreement is long-awaited. The nation has faced economic chaos because of a decline in oil income, while 4 million people have fled their homes and some areas have been on the verge of famine. Both government forces and rebels have been accused of atrocities and the United Nations Security Council recently imposed an arms embargo.

The warring parties now have eight months to form the government that’s supposed to last 36 months and eventually usher in South Sudan’s first elections since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

Kiir and Machar, who was fired as Kiir’s deputy months before the war erupted in December 2013, signed a broadly similar deal in 2015. It collapsed weeks into its enactment the following year, spurring a new wave of violence that fueled Africa’s biggest refugee crisis.

Machar eventually fled into exile and has yet to return to South Sudan.

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Politics

Kenya’s Ruto wants global support for Haiti

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Kenya’s President William Ruto wants the United Nations Security Council to officially support the mission to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti.

Kenya, an East African powerhouse, is active in Haiti, and recently announced it was ready to be part of a multinational force. It committed to deploy 1,000 police officers to the country and “accepted to positively consider leading a Multi-National Force to Haiti.”

Ruto, during his address, insisted that the Caribbean country “deserves better from the world.” “Kenya is ready to play its part in full, and join with a coalition of other nations of goodwill – and there are many— as a great friend and true sibling of Haiti,” Ruto said while addressing world leaders.

Haiti begged for assistance last year to fight off vicious gangs that had largely taken over the city of Port-au-Prince.

According to diplomats, the council might vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing the deployment of international police as early as next week.

U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and were replaced by U.N. police, which left in 2019.

Haiti has been without any elected representatives since January and countries across the world have been cautious about supporting the unelected administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry who has argued that fair elections cannot be held with the current insecurity.

Violent crimes, including kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies, and carjacking are prevalent in the country.

Politics

Sudan: One country, two UNGA addresses, as armed factions stake claim

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The ongoing civil war in Sudan played out on the global scene at the United Nations General Assembly as heads of rival military factions gave competing addresses at the world meeting on Thursday.

Clashes between the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s transitional government’s Sovereign Council, and army troops loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the council’s deputy leader who controls the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have led to the destruction of facilities.

The conflict, which broke out in Khartoum in mid-April and extended to other regions of the country, including the western area of Darfur, displacing more than 5 million people and posing a threat to the region’s stability, was blamed on both sides.

Army chief, al-Burhan urged the international community to label the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organisation and to take action against its financiers outside of Sudan’s borders while speaking from the stage at UN headquarters in New York.

On the other hand, RSF leader, Dagalo, known as Hemedti, in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location, said that his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict. Hemedti has primarily communicated recently through audio messages, and his whereabouts have been a subject of conjecture.

“Today we renew our commitment to the peaceful process to put a halt to this war,” Hemedti said. “The RSF are fully prepared for a ceasefire throughout Sudan to allow the passage of humanitarian aid … and to start serious and comprehensive political talks.”

Repeated declarations of a ceasefire by both the army and the RSF, as well as claims that they are looking for a resolution to the war have not been able to halt the carnage and the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.