Category: East Africa

The current conflict in South Sudan has now lasted nearly half a year, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese. Oil, South Sudan’s only major source of revenue, has neither been the reason for nor the focus of the conflict up to this point. But this is rapidly changing as the flow and whereabouts of the oil revenue, as well as the security of the oil fields themselves, moves to the very centre of the conflict. Although production is only at half-capacity, oil revenue continues to fill Juba’s coffers with roughly $15 million a day. The income from the oil sector is the main financial support for the government of Salva Kiir in Juba and its armed fight against former vice president Riek Macher and rebel groups. Riek Machar has, in recent weeks, been struggling to maintain his fight against the government, in part due to […]

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The displaced inhabitants of camps in Gireida locality, South Darfur, face an acute shortage of drinking water as a result of a lack of fuel. One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the crisis in the camp has entered its third month. This is in spite of the fact that the authorities levy fees from all the displaced families to provide fuel. He said that two tins of water from the station within the city now cost SDG 1.5 ($0.26). The sheikh appealed to the authorities to speed-up resolving the problem because the displaced lack the resources and the financial means to fetch water.   Copyright © 2014 Radio Dabanga. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. […]

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Members of the White Army, which is a Nuer militia, as they prepare to travel from… Members of the White Army, which is a Nuer militia, as they prepare to travel from Nasir to fight at Malakal and Paloch, on March 26, 2014. Close Close Open Photographer: William Davison/Bloomberg Members of the White Army, which is a Nuer militia, as they prepare to travel from Nasir to fight at Malakal and Paloch, on March 26, 2014. Dozens of South Sudanese men chanted war songs, blew whistles and brandished AK-47 rifles with a longing for ethnic revenge. All members of the Nuer ethnic group, the troops of the so-called White Army who gathered by the Sobat River in eastern South Sudan are the strike force in rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar’s campaign against the government in Juba, the capital. They’re planning to march on […]

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South Sudanese rebels plan to capture key oil installations to force President Salva Kiir to step down and end more than three months of conflict in the world’s newest nation, former Vice President Riek Machar said. Fighters allied with Machar, known as the White Army, are “mobilizing” to attack the Paloch oil fields that are the main source of revenue for the country’s military, the 60-year-old rebel leader said in a March 27 interview at his bush hideout in Upper Nile state. Machar fled the capital, Juba, in December after the government says he attempted a coup against Kiir. “We want to take control of the oil field,” said Machar, dressed in green military fatigues and wearing gold-rimmed sunglasses. “This is our oil. We must take control of Paloch to deny Salva Kiir revenue to buy more arms.” Upper Nile is South Sudan ’s only remaining crude-producing state after […]

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South Sudanese troops recaptured Malakal, the capital of the state that is home to the country’s only functioning oil fields, ending more than a month of rebel occupation amid faltering regional efforts to broker a truce in the nearly four-month-old conflict. Government troops seized control of Malakal, located 400 miles north of the capital Juba, after a two-day gunbattle with rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar, military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer told The Wall Street Journal. Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state, has changed hands several times since the conflict between rebel fighters and government troops erupted in mid-December, raising concerns over the safety of the vast oil fields in the beleaguered nation. "Our forces have finally taken full control of Malakal, the rebels are in disarray," Col. Aguer said, adding that rebels had virtually "destroyed and looted everything" during their monthlong occupation. Review events […]

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Politically-fueled ethnic violence in South Sudan since mid-December has led to the brutal killing and abuse of thousands of civilians and sparked a government campaign to vilify the United Nations and harass UN personnel, the UN peacekeeping chief has said. Herve Ladsous told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that despite a January 23 ceasefire agreement, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel soldiers loyal to dismissed former vice president Riek Machar "continue to prioritise the pursuit of military gains over talks towards a comprehensive political settlement." Fighting that broke out December 15 among presidential guards in the capital Juba quickly spread across the country and took on ethnic dimensions between the more populous Dinka tribe who support Kiir and the Nuer tribe loyal to Machar. He said prelimiary inquiry reports indicate that atrocities and very severe human rights violations were committed by both sides in the conflict, and he warned that the longer the fighting goes on "the […]

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Heavy artillery and machine gun fire is echoing throughout the capital of South Sudan after violence broke out. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said Wednesday that the fighting broke out over an administrative pay issue but that the problem had been contained. Fighting, however, could still be heard around the military barracks where violence first broke out in mid-December and escalated into country-wide conflict that continues today. Soldiers are being quickly ferried around the city on the backs of trucks. Shops on a main street in the city have closed amid a general increase in security personnel. In Ethiopia, a leader for opposition forces said that mutineers in the army on Wednesday had pledged their allegiance to the country’s former vice president, who commands rebel forces. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]

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The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussein al-Shahristani on Monday expressed his country’s willingness to supply Sudan with crude oil and assist in the construction of a new oil refinery. Shahristani said in a statement released by his office as carried by Iraqi media that Baghdad is keen on supporting the Sudanese people and will stand by their side politically and economically. The Iraqi official made the statement after his meeting with the head of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Gen Mohamed Atta Al-Mawla Abbas who heads a government delegation that includes the minister of oil Makkawi Mohamed Awad, director of the oil marketing company and a number of experts. Abbas visited Iraq as an envoy from Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir. "The two sides discussed ways of strengthening relations between the two countries and the mechanism of exporting Iraqi oil to Sudan. The […]

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PMartha Akuoch survived two offensives in the South Sudanese civil war, but the third pitched battle in the city of Malakal was more than she could take. She packed up and crossed the border into Sudan with her six children. “The rebels would come into homes, kill men, boys, take mobile phones, money, and now they are even killing women,” said Ms. Akuoch, 43, a secondary-school teacher who left her husband behind in South Sudan. “Even inside the church,” she added. So, like most of her neighbors, she decided it was time to leave Malakal, the capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile State. About 14,000 people have crowded into this remote Sudanese outpost, just a small […]

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South Sudan said on Friday that it is evacuating foreign oil workers from the oil fields in Upper Nile state, allegedly to avoid being caught in the crossfire, should the rebel launch attacks in the area. "The government has since Monday, been receiving numerous requests from the foreign oil workers, through their governments and the representatives of the companies they work for, to consider evacuating them from the area urgently, because of the developing security situation", Francis Ayul, Upper Nile State minister of mining and petroleum told Sudan Tribune on Friday. "Based on genuineness of the request, and considering the current security situation in the state, the state government in consultation with the central government responded to the requests and approved the immediate evacuation of all foreign workers involving in the engineering work." Minister Ayul said the evacuated foreign workers would be kept in the country’s capital, […]

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South Sudanese rebels and government forces fought for control of the capital of oil-rich Upper Nile state, the only region in the world’s newest nation that’s still producing crude two months after violence erupted. Both sides claimed control of the town of Malakal after fighting started yesterday in violation of a cease-fire they signed on Jan. 23 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa . Sounds of shelling could be heard from a United Nations compound in Malakal as early as 8 a.m. today, Grace Cahill, a spokeswoman for Oxfam, said by phone from Juba, the South Sudanese capital. Some of the internally displaced people seeking shelter inside the compound have left “because they felt they weren’t protected enough, while others came in to receive treatment last night,” Cahill said. Fighting that started Dec. 15 has left thousands of people dead and forced at least 860,000 more to flee their […]

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South Sudan rebels Tuesday attacked the capital of the state that is home to the country’s only functioning oil fields, further fraying a tattered cease-fire and threatening to choke off a trickle of crude exports from the beleaguered nation. The attack on Malakal, the capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, ended a lull in fighting that had lasted nearly a month. It also came as rebels and government representatives failed to restart peace talks aimed at ending the nearly three-month-old conflict. The two sides remain far apart on important issues, such as the release of prisoners and Uganda’s military support for the South Sudanese government. Early Tuesday, heavily armed rebel fighters loyal to South Sudan’s former vice president, Riek Machar, attacked with machine guns and heavy artillery in a surprise assault, government military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said. The ambush forced government troops to retreat northward, toward […]

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Less than a month after the cease-fire was signed, a rebel leader’s hometown was attacked. Goran Tomasevic/Reuters NAIROBI, Kenya — The ranks of displaced people have swelled to nearly 900,000, close to a tenth of the entire population. Humanitarian groups warn that millions could go hungry if fields remain unplowed before the coming rainy season. Aid workers themselves are on the run, hiding ever deeper in the bush to escape attack. Fighting has continued in South Sudan, both rebels and government officials say, in spite of the cease-fire agreement last month that was meant to bring peace to the young nation while a broader political solution was found. Negotiators from the two sides will meet again in Ethiopia this week. But in a sign of the continuing hostilities, the hometown of Riek Machar, a former vice president […]

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The South Sudanese government and rebel forces signed a cease-fire agreement Thursday, a step toward ending more than a month of fighting that threatened to tear apart the world’s youngest nation. There were few immediate details about the deal, but negotiators said it hewed to a draft agreement distributed to media earlier in the week. Under the draft agreement, both sides agreed to freeze their troops in place and cease military operations, including ammunition resupplies. It also required them to protect civilians from violence, stop hostile statements in the media and open up corridors for humanitarian aid. Thursday’s pact marks the first sign of a potential peace in South Sudan since fighting broke out in mid-December. At the time, President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy of attempting a coup. A rebellion then erupted, eventually drawing into the conflict neighboring Uganda, which has sent troops to help South […]

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At stake is one of the African continent’s most lucrative deposits of oil, generating billions of dollars for the world’s youngest nation and its partners. “The big powers, especially the Chinese, have a huge stake in this,” said Leben Moro, a professor at the Center for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Juba in South Sudan’s capital. “The oil could be a savior, but if there is more fighting over the oil, it could become a curse.” A dispute over political power, not oil, triggered clashes in Juba last month. But the conflict quickly turned into a fight over South Sudan’s strategic oil-rich regions. The capitals of two of these areas, Bentiu and Malakal, have changed hands more than once. Battles also have been fought in Bor, the capital of a region with untapped oil reserves that are potentially lucrative. “The opposition hopes that by capturing the […]

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As the conflict between South Sudan ’s government and rebels worsens, President Salva Kiir has found succor from an unexpected source: Sudan, the country that southerners fought against for two decades to win independence. Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir’s motivation in helping his former enemies is based on the need to maintain oil flows from the south, according to analysts including Magdi El Gizouli at the Nairobi-based Rift Valley Institute. His government is also concerned that instability along its border will hamper the battle against its own rebels, he said. “For the first time in history they are interested, even more than the South Sudanese themselves, in retaining stability in South Sudan in some form under a government that is ready to do business, and Kiir is ready to do business,” El Gizouli said Jan. 15 by phone from Freiburg, Germany . Since South […]

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South Sudanese rebels said they captured Malakal, the capital of oil-rich Upper Nile state, as talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in the nation’s four-week-old conflict continued for a second day. Opposition forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar seized Malakal today after 72 hours of “heavy fighting,” rebel spokesman Brigadier-General Lul Ruai Koang said in a phone interview. The fighters now plan to recapture Bentiu, capital of neighboring Unity state, “within days,” he said. The rebels lost control of Bentiu on Jan. 10 when government forces advanced on the town. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir ’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said fighting was continuing in Malakal after the rebels “pushed our forces” back to the airport. “It’s not yet clear who’s in control,” he said. Government and rebel negotiators held another round of talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa , aimed at ending hostilities that broke […]

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AP Photo JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A boat carrying civilians desperately fleeing heavy violence in South Sudan sank while crossing the Nile River, killing some 200 people, a military official said Tuesday, as fighting between rebels and government forces moved closer to the capital. Warfare in the world’s newest state has displaced more than 400,000 people since mid-December, with the front lines constantly shifting as loyalist troops and renegade forces gain and lose territory in battles often waged along ethnic lines. A boat fleeing violence on the Nile carrying mostly women and children sank on Saturday, killing at least 200 people, according to Lt. Col Aguer, the South Sudanese military spokesman. He also said there was fighting about 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of the South Sudanese capital of Juba. Heavy fighting erupted in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, which renegade forces briefly held before […]

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South Sudan’s army retook a strategic oil town Tuesday after a rebel incursion sent thousands fleeing and imperiled crude output in sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil producer. "By 4 p.m. the rebels were fleeing Malakal," said South Sudan’s military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer. The fighting around Malakal, which began on Saturday and continued through Tuesday, caused civilians to abandon their homes and some to join rebel forces, according to Col. Aguer. "They were agitated to come and attack Malakal and take whatever property they can as an incentive," he said. Complicating Malakal’s defense, soldiers at a base outside the town in recent days have defected to join the rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar in their fight against the government led by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir. Fighting has raged since a political dispute between Messrs. Machar and Kiir last month sparked a conflict between army […]

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Oil workers based in South Sudan’s Unity state have confirmed the looting of oil installation facilities, including computers, alleging rebels from Sudan’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighting alongside government troops in the area were responsible. In a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune on Saturday, one of the oil workers said rebels stormed the offices of oil facilities, taking important items, including food supplies meant for those guarding equipment at the sites. "When the fighting broke out on Friday, we saw many Sudanese rebels carrying heavy ammunitions to attack the areas. They manage to take control of Bentiu town from rebels with [a] few soldiers from [the] government side", said a source that spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. After falling to South Sudanese rebels aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar, government troops on Friday regained control of Unity state capital, Bentiu. JEM have […]

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The United States is weighing targeted sanctions against South Sudan due to the failure of leaders in the world’s youngest nation to take steps to end a crisis that has brought the country to the brink of civil war, sources briefed on U.S. discussions told Reuters. "It’s a tool that has been discussed," a source told Reuters on condition of anonymity about the possibility of U.S. sanctions against those blocking peace efforts or fueling violence in South Sudan. Another source confirmed the remarks, though both declined to provide details on the precise measures under consideration. No decisions have been made yet, the sources added. Targeted sanctions focus on specific individuals, entities or sectors of country. The U.S. government was unlikely to consider steps intended to economically harm impoverished South Sudan but would likely focus on any measures on those individuals or groups it sees as […]

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South Sudanese troops on Friday retook the capital of an oil-producing state from rebels loyal to the country’s former vice president, a military spokesman said. Government troops retook Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, after a 2 1/2-hour battle, Col. Philip Aguer said. Aguer said the forces loyal to the former vice president, Riek Machar, had "destroyed" the town. Rebels looted the bank, stole food and set the market on fire, Aguer said. Doctors Without Borders, which is also known as MSF, said its facilities in Bentiu were also looted. "It is unacceptable that one of the only humanitarian organizations still providing assistance to the population in Bentiu has been looted," MSF General Director Arjan Hehenkamp said. The loss of Bentiu weakens Machar at the negotiating table in Ethiopia, where mediators are trying to defuse a political conflict that broke out Dec. […]

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The death toll in South Sudan ’s four-week-old conflict may be close to 10,000, as fighting continues in the world’s newest nation, the International Crisis Group said. “We believe the death toll to be approaching 10,000,” Casie Copeland, an analyst for Brussels-based ICG, said in an e-mailed response to questions. The United Nations has said the conflict has killed thousands of people and forced about 270,000 to flee their homes. The rebels estimate that as many as 6,000 people may have died. Government forces today recaptured Bentiu, capital of oil-producing Unity state, army spokesman Phillip Aguer said by phone from Juba. The army is now advancing on Bor, the capital of Jonglei state that’s currently held by the rebels, he said. Fighting began on Dec. 15 after President Salva Kiir accused former Vice President Riek Machar of trying to stage a coup, a charge Machar denies. The dispute escalated […]

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President Salva Kiir’s government held out a possible pardon to rival Riek Machar if he agrees to end nearly a month of fighting, as South Sudanese troops advanced toward the strategic rebel-held town of Bentiu on Thursday. Military and aid officials said Mr. Kiir’s troops were within five miles of Bentiu, a hub for South Sudan’s 240,000-barrel-a-day oil industry now held by forces loyal to Mr. Machar, a former vice president. The intensifying battle in South Sudan’s oil-rich north has raised fears that fighting could disrupt an industry that funds nearly all of the country’s federal budget and foreign exchange. South Sudan is sub-Saharan Africa’s No. 3 producer behind Angola and Nigeria. "Our forces are closing in on Bentiu from two fronts," said military spokesman Philip Aguer. Meanwhile, talks between envoys for Messrs. Kiir and Machar in Ethiopia showed signs of stalling. The rebel delegation rejected the government’s offer […]

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As fighting continued to rage across South Sudan on Thursday, a new estimate raised the death toll in the conflict significantly and a senior American official questioned the government’s insistence that a coup attempt was responsible for setting off the violence and instability there. The International Crisis Group said Thursday that the number of dead from the conflict was close to 10,000 people, a major increase from earlier estimates by the United Nations. “Given the intensity of fighting in over 30 different locations in the past three weeks, we are looking at a death toll approaching 10,000,” said Casie Copeland, an analyst at the International Crisis Group , a research and advocacy institution. The United Nations special representative for South […]

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The United States has demanded negotiations. Uganda has threatened to intervene. China has called for an immediate cease-fire. The conflict in South Sudan has attracted attention from around the world, but nowhere are leaders watching the crisis with more interest — and more at stake — than here in the country’s longstanding rival, Sudan. Before South Sudan voted to break away from the north and form its own country in 2011, the two sides had been locked in decades of civil war that claimed the lives of more than two million people. But their division did not sever all ties. The oil that both rely on continues to flow northward from South Sudan’s fields to Sudan’s refineries, linking the two foes in a rocky but crucial economic marriage. The recent fighting in South Sudan has disrupted oil production, with foreign workers fleeing the violent clashes in […]

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South Sudan, on the brink of civil war less than three years after winning its independence from Sudan, received a visit Monday from its former ruler as fighting spread to the oil regions that both countries depend on for survival. Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir met with his counterpart, Salva Kiir, in the South Sudan capital of Juba. Although the two were on opposite ends of a civil war less than a decade ago, they now depend on each other to produce crude and export it to the outside world. The two presidents discussed the possibility of forming a joint force to protect South Sudan’s oil fields from rebels, according to Rabie Abdelaty, the spokesman for Sudan’s information ministry. "We need to put in place a force to protect our shared interests in the oil sector," he said. South Sudan’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment on whether Mr. Kiir […]

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South Sudan’s government and rebels said they were optimistic they could negotiate an end to a three-week-old conflict that the United Nations says has killed thousands of people and forced 200,000 to flee their homes. Talks resume today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to end the violence that has shaken the world’s newest nation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday he was “ready to directly engage” the warring parties to end fighting between President Salva Kiir’s government and insurgents loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar . “We believe we can achieve full reconciliation,” the rebels’ chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, said at a press conference in Addis Ababa. South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei said: “We have come for peace and we will go back to our people with peace.” Conflict broke out on Dec. 15 after Kiir accused Machar of trying to stage a coup, […]

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Rebels in South Sudan said Sunday they had killed an army general during fighting near the town of Bor, at the same time direct negotiations between warring factions began in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Rebel spokesman Moses Ruai said the general, Lual Mayok, was killed along with his deputy in an ambush on Friday, and said he was in charge of government troops trying to recapture Bor, capital of Jonglei state, situated 130 miles north of the capital Juba. "Our forces are well organized. They are not just hit-and-run. The next target is now Juba, but I cannot tell you exactly when they will attack Juba, but they are heading there," the rebel spokesman said. South Sudan’s Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk dismissed the claim, saying there was no general of that name in the country’s armed forces. "I have no information of any general killed," he told […]

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South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

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South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

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South Sudan is in many ways an American creation, carved out of war-torn Sudan in a referendum largely orchestrated by the United States, its fragile institutions nurtured with billions of dollars in American aid. But a murky, vicious conflict there has left the Obama administration scrambling to prevent the unraveling of a major American achievement in Africa. With at least 1,000 people killed in fighting between government and rebel forces, and with disturbing reports of ethnically motivated atrocities by both sides, President Obama faces the real prospect that South Sudan could become Africa’s next failed state. On the first morning of his Hawaii visit, two weeks ago, Mr. Obama woke up to an urgent conference call with his national security team about the fighting in South Sudan, and efforts to evacuate American citizens. He has been briefed on it every day since, his aides said — a […]

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As the city of Bor fell into chaos, Lual Alier watched a fellow teacher pick up a Kalashnikov rifle and kill a shopkeeper. Then the man turned and began firing at him, too. “He wanted to kill me, but I ran into the water,” Mr. Alier, 28, said. What left him in shock was more than the violence and the threat to his life. Until that moment Mr. Alier thought that the two, who came from different ethnic groups but went to a teacher training institute together, were friends. They lived together “as brothers and sisters,” Mr. Alier said of the two groups, his disbelief evident as he stood beside a tree that was now the only shelter for his extended family of more than 30 people. As the halting talks to end the conflict in South Sudan finally got underway on Friday, international negotiators […]

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The United States on Friday ordered a further reduction of American Embassy staff in strife-torn South Sudan and said it would cease to provide consular services for its citizens as of Saturday, apparently reflecting a somber assessment of the country’s prospects even as the country’s warring factions were reported to have opened preliminary, indirect talks in neighboring Ethiopia. A travel advisory on the website of the State Department said that Washington “ordered a further drawdown of U.S. Embassy personnel because of the deteriorating security situation” in South Sudan, which has been seized with conflict between its main political factions since December. “We continue to urge U.S. citizens in South Sudan to depart the country,” the message said, offering an evacuation flight on Friday “to the nearest safe haven country” on a “first-come, first-served basis.” “The U.S. Embassy will no longer be able to provide any consular services to U.S. […]

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