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Wednesday, 27 May 2009

By Isaac Vuni

(JUBA) – The president of the regional government of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, on Tuesday praised the guerrilla fighters who had won Sudan’s 2005 peace deal, but warned that the agreement was under threat from enemies of peace both within and without the ten southern states.

SPLM/A, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, swept across south Sudan as a guerrilla movement sparked by the mutiny of an army battalion.

Kiir, in an address today to masses at the Dr.John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, said that the SPLA Day would continue to be marked by new generations in remembrance of the heroic struggle for justice, freedom equality and dignity. Read more »

South Sudan to disarm civilians to end tribe clashes 26 May 2009 18:43:01 GMT Source: Reuters By Skye Wheeler JUBA, Sudan, May 26 (Reuters) – South Sudan’s president on Tuesday said he would send out soldiers to disarm hundreds of thousands of civilians to stop a surge in tribal killings. Hundreds have died in the clashes between ethnic groups in the oil producing region in disputes often sparked by land rights and cattle rustling. Tribal conflicts are common in the south, but observers have been shocked by the scale of the violence, much of its fuelled by weapons left over from two decades of civil war. “We will soon affect a comprehensive disarmament of all civilian populations in south Sudan,” said president Salva Kiir, speaking at an anniversary celebration of the founding of the south’s army. He said the scale of this year’s fighting was unusual and part of a strategy by what he called “enemies of peace” to discredit the semi-autonomous south’s ability to run its own affairs. Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) fought a civil war with northern Sudan that ended in 2005 with a peace deal that created a southern parliament and gave the region a share in the country’s oil revenues. But a fall in the global oil price has had a crippling impact on the southern government’s budget and its ability to pay its soldiers and civil servants — another factor in growing discontent, say analysts. Read more »

May 25, 2009 (JUBA) – Demolitions of residential areas in Juba have left upwards of 30,000 people displaced, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said in a statement of protest today.

The UN body called on the Government of Central Equatoria, which is responsible for the town although it is the capital of the Government of Southern Sudan, to provide alternatives to people who have lost their homes.

Governor Clement Wani Igga had warned in January that the demolition of squatters’ residences would begin by the end of the month. Bulldozers and security forces were involved in the demolitions.

The areas targeted are predominantly occupied by citizens from other states who put up illegally in those areas and could not legally obtain plots because of unsettled misunderstandings over the issues of jurisdictions and land ownership among different levels of government and local communities in Juba. Many of the former residents are reportedly left in poor sanitary conditions and some are still living atop the ruins. Read more »

Land Grabbers’ Days are Numbered, Says Central Equatoria State Governor

By Juma John Stephen

JUBA, May 19 

 The Central Equatoria State Governor Major General Clement Wani Konga has put land grabbers on notice, saying that the planned demolitions will proceed as planned.

Speaking to the press in Juba, the Governor vowed to enact the directive, adding that he had instructed the Demolition Committee chaired by Emmanuel Waga to ensure that all illegally occupied land is reclaimed for the town’s development.

“We are committed to go ahead with the exercise as planned and nothing will stop us, even the weather”, said a stern General Konga. Read more »