North, South Sudan Diplomats Spar at Cairo Conference on President Kiir Visit to Israel:

North and South Sudanese ambassadors to Egypt offer differing views on South Sudan president’s recent visit to Israel

Asmaa El-Husseini , Tuesday 27 Dec 2011

Arab Doctors Union conference, (Photo: Asmaa Husseini).

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir’s visit to Israel ignited debate at a conference in Cairo organised this week by the Sudan and Quds (Jerusalem) committees of the Arab Doctors Union. North and South Sudan’s ambassadors to Cairo, both of whom attended the event, expressed opposing viewpoints on Kiir’s visit.North Sudanese ambassador Kamal Ali Hassan declared that South Sudan was an independent, sovereign state that enjoyed the right to determine its own foreign policy. He said he was happy about Kiir’s visit to Israel, since it revealed the depth of the relationship – which Khartoum knew very well – between South Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement (or SPLM, which now governs the southern state) and international Zionism and Israel.

Hassan went on to recall that the southern rebel movement’s first leader, Joseph Lagu, had visited Israel to offer his services in preventing the Sudanese army from taking part in the 1967 Arab-Israel war. He said that Kiir’s recent visit was simply “the tip of the Iceberg” and – quoting Kiir’s statement to the Israelis that without Israel’s fighting for South Sudan the latter would never have been established – stressed the extent of Israeli involvement in Sudanese affairs, which was evident from Israel’s hostile policies against Egypt and Sudan.

Hassan added that Khartoum was “not disturbed” by the longstanding relationship and was dealing with it intelligently in order to preserve its national interests. He concluded by stating that South Sudan now had “bills to pay,” which was the reason for Kiir’s visit to those in the US and Israel who had supported the establishment of his state.

In response, South Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt, Fermina Mawketh Manar, emphasized his country’s desire to forge a “special relationship” with Arab countries, saying that Khartoum was always trying to distort the south’s image.

The ambassador said he was simply trying to clarify certain issues, insisting that Kiir’s recent trip to Israel had been a standard visit. He noted that North Sudanese Arab-Muslim leader Jaafar Nimeiry had been responsible for transporting Ethiopian Jews to Israel, who had later become Israeli soldiers who had fought against Arabs.

Manar also asserted that North Sudanese officials had met with their Israeli counterparts in Aqaba, Jordan, claiming that North Sudan’s anti-American and anti-Israeli stances were “just for show.” He cited claims by former North Sudanese intelligence chief Salah Quosh that Khartoum had provided the US with files on Al-Qaeda and Islamist militants.

The ambassador went on to express hope for “a strong bond” between South Sudan and the Arab states, pointing out that there was a large Muslim population in South Sudan. He said that ongoing tensions with North Sudan represented an obstacle to Arab-South Sudan relations.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/30363/World/International/North,-South-Sudan-diplomats-spar-at-Cairo-confere.aspx

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AllAfrica.com
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However, conflicts ensued shortly over the pending issues between the more-developed North and the oil-rich South, despite the reassurance of resolution that Sudanese President al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit pledged on the ..

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The United Nations urged South Sudan to protect civilians after its air patrols detected thousands of members of the Lou Nuer ethnic group preparing to attack on Murle communities in the eastern Jonglei state. “I am deeply concerned to learn of reports …

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December 27, 2011 African Union Official Cites Successes, Challenges in 2011 El Ghassim Wane, director of peace and security says some progress was made in Somalia, Cote d’Ivoire and South Sudan James Butty The director of peace and security at the …

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December 26, 2011 (BOR) – Three civilians and one soldier died and fifteen others wounded in Khorfulus district of Pigi county of Jonglei state following a shooting at a church on 24 December, Sudan Tribune has been told. Members of South Sudan’s army .

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Sudan Open Archive on South Sudan First Civil War (Anya-Anya One)

The Sudan Open Archive offers free digital access to knowledge about all regions of Sudan. It is an expanding, word-searchable, full-text database of historical and contemporary books and documents. The current version, SOA 3.0, includes two new special collections: the first thirty-two volumes of Sudan Notes and Records, Sudan’s flagship scholarly journal, and the collected papers of the late Sudan scholar, Richard Gray.

The Sudan Open Archive can be accessed on computers running Windows, Unix or Mac OS/X. It is available online and as an external hard drive. The Archive uses open-source Greenstone digital archiving software.

http://sudanarchive.net/index.php?view=soahome

The 1965 massacres in Juba and Wau

Voice of Southern Sudan, Vol. III No. 2.pdf 1648K   View   Download

 

Sudan First Civil War

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/sudan-civil-war1.htm

SPLM’s Amum Pledges to Restructure the Ruling Party

December 24, 2011 (JUBA) – The Secretary General of the South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum Okiec, has pledged the desire and commitment of his party to re-organise and restructure itself into a more responsible and capable political entity.

FILE – Senior South’s top negotiator Pagan Amum speaks during a news conference in Khartoum (REUTERS)

The announcement is seen as an official attempt to respond to growing internal pressure and calls on the country’s ruling party to adjust itself in order to win back trust.

The SPLM, which through the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement secured South Sudan’s independence this year, has been losing the confidence of some citizens.

Lack of services, insecurity, a poor human rights record and rampant corruption in the six years that the SPLM has run South Sudan are some of the reasons for the former rebels’ dwindling popularity in some areas of the country.

In an official Christmas and New Year message extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday, Amum maintained that his party remains committed to achieving nation-building based on a vision of creating a state of justice, equality and peaceful coexistence between all citizens irrespective of their ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

“The SPLM Secretary General is delighted to affirm that preparations are underway to re-organise and re-structure the SPLM in January 2012,” Amum said.

The release further asserted that the SPLM looks forward to establishing a state that provides equal opportunities for its people so as to enable them unlock their energies to create wealth and achieve prosperity.

South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world with almost no infrastructure and a low standard and proliferation of health and educational professionals.

The young country is still recovering from decades of devastating civil war with north Sudan than ended with a peace deal almost seven years ago.

As part of the deal South Sudan voted for independence and became the world’s newest country on 9 July.

(ST)

http://www.sudantribune.com/SPLM-s-Amum-pledges-to-restructure,41090

When Modernity Trumps Tradition: King reportedly had sex with a bull beaten into semi-consciousness.

By EUSEBIUS MCKAISER

JOHANNESBURG — The Southern Africa Report recently ran a story alleging that as part of an annual ceremony called Incwala King Mswati III of Swaziland has sex with a bull beaten into semi-consciousness. I have no way of confirming the report. But it did serve to raise what is a very real issue in this part of the world: the clash between tradition and modernity.

Benedicte Kurzen for The New York TimesCattle being tended in preparation for Ukweshwama, the Zulu tradition.

In South Africa, in a Zulu ritual called Ukweshwama, 40 or so young members of a regiment kill a bull with their bare hands — gouging out its eyes, mutilating its genitals, and ripping out its tongue, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

How do you square these obvious wrongs with respect for local customs? The question applies not only to the torture of animals but also to such traditions as polygamy: President Jacob Zuma has several wives.

South Africa has a rather schizophrenic approach to such questions. In 1994, it adopted a constitution that explicitly recognizes customary practices so long as they don’t violate fundamental values like equality and dignity. Polygamy has not yet been challenged under the Constitution, but in a society rife with sexism and sexual violence, the practice undermines the equality and dignity that women are entitled to. And so either the practice should be declared unconstitutional or substantive gender equality should be achieved by also permitting polyandry.

A similar tension regarding the bull killing ritual also needs resolution. Dismembering or violating a living bull contradicts basic standards for the treatment of animals, as well as South Africa’s Animal Protection Act, which outlaws animal cruelty. But the law is routinely ignored because the Ukweshwama tradition is so deeply embedded: even Zuma, himself a Zulu, has attended the event.

In the only court challenge to the ritual so far, from early December 2009, the judge correctly identified the centrality of the tradition to Zulu life but failed to weigh that interest against the legal entitlements of a sentient creature. (He argued that declaring Ukweshwama illegal would be like preventing Roman Catholics from receiving Holy Communion.) A court that properly balanced the competing interests of tradition and animal welfare would have declared the ritual illegal or mandated that the Zulu community find other ways for its young men to bond and demonstrate their prowess.

A people’s sense of community is not fundamentally threatened if it abandons a ritual; human history is testimony to our ability to adopt different ways of being. On balance, therefore, it makes sense to reject traditions of this bull-killing kind rather than allow them to endure simply because they have persisted thus far. Many wrongs are customary and have been custom for too long. King Mswati III’s power may be absolute in Swaziland, but bestiality is nonetheless patently unethical.

If a tradition is compatible with fundamental values like equality and dignity, then it has a place in a modern African society. If it clashes with fundamental values like equality and dignity, then it must be scrapped, unless an appropriate modification is found.

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Eusebius McKaiser is a political analyst at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/when-modernity-trumps-tradition/?ref=opinion