The Launch of South Sudan’s Vio-Data Project

Vio-Data Project

Vio-Data Project is PaanLuel Wel Blog’s data record of South Sudanese civilians killed in the ensuing inter-tribal violence and (North-South) Sudan cross border raids. Please report any pertinent information and numbers you might have to the Vio-Data Project. You can reach us through: paanluel2011@gmail.com, Facebook page or Twitter account.

Date	Place	Attackers	Victims	men Killed	women Killed	Children Killed	Total killed	Info Source
Jan 5, 2012	Pibor	Lou Nuer	Murle	959	2182 (w and  c )	2182 (w and  c )	3000	NYtimes
Sept 16, 2011	Unity state	Warrap Dinka	Unity Nuer	—	—	—	46	stuff.co.nz
Jan 12, 2012	Uror county	Murle	Lou Nuer	paramount chief	—	—	57	Upper Nile Times
Jan 12, 2012	Uror County	Murle	Lou Nuer	paramount chief	—	—	37	Gurtong.org
Dec 29, 2011	W.B Ghazal	Khartoum	Juba	—-	—	—	17	BBC/AFP
Jan 8, 2012	Akobo county	Murle	Lou Nuer	—	—	—	60	Sudan Tribune
Dec 24, 2011	Pigi county	SPLA soldiers	Xmass-worshippers	—	—	—	4	AP
Dec 13, 2011	Pigi County	Athor’s Rebel	Atar Dinka	—	—	—	11	AFP
Dec 6, 2011	Jalle, Jonglei	Murle	Bor Dinka	—	—	—	45	UN.org
Oct, 29, 2011	Unity State	SSLA Rebels	MayomNuer	—	—	—	75/80	Sudan Tribune
Oct 30, 2011	Unity State	SSLA Rebels	Mayom Nuer	—	—	—	39	CNN
Aug 22, 2011	Uror county	Murle	Lou Nuer	—	—	—	600	VOA

Please forward more data and information for continuous updating. You can reach us through: paanluel2011@gmail.com, Facebook page or Twitter account.

Thanks,

PaanLuel Wel.

South Sudan Vio Data Project.pdf 126K   View   Download

Young and Rich Under 40

Forget those you see flossing at social scenes or in music videos, these are the Kenyans living a life on the fabulous lane. DAVID ODONGO reveals some of Kenya’s young self-made tycoons.

They claim to have come a long way. They all hail from humble backgrounds and claim to be involved in legitimate businesses. These relatively unknown but wealthy Kenyans under 40 are going places. Whoever said that life begins at 40 might have not considered about these daredevils who a living large under 40 and own a fortune. We look at entrepreneurs who have made it against all odds.

In showbiz circles, the story of Homeboyz Entertainment is well documented. The company owned by the Rabar brothers is a now a conglomerate which rakes in good cash from events, radios, animations et al. Then there are the likes of DJ Stylez-led Code Red, Blackstar Entertainment and Kevin Ombajo’s Trublaq, which are making a kill.

Individual musicians like Nameless and Jaguar are also laughing all the way to the bank.

Away from entertainment there are young men and women doing well. Lawyers like Don Kipkorir are living large. Well, are these Kenyans the richest under 40?

Brian Gacara

Age: 27 years

Title: Managing Partner at Property Reality and Cape Gardens, a real estate firm.

Background: At 23 years, was the regional director for Tetra Pak, West Africa. Ventured in timber business, before eventually branching into real estate. Currently building a 120 units estate along Mombasa Road valued at Sh800 million. Also building luxury apartments in Kiambu and Nakuru. Gacara has also spread his wings to Rwanda where he is building a hotel. He is also involved in commodity importation. His other businesses include packaging and selling locally produced rice as well as large-scale farming.

First business venture: Selling timber.

Advice to the youth: As a young person you bubble with energy and ideas and it is the best time to get into business.

Holiday destinations: Any place in Kenya does it for me.

Residence: A penthouse in Keleleshwa.

Ride: A Mercedes Kompressor

Marital status: Single and not searching. I am too busy. It will be unfair to have a girlfriend whom I never get time to spend with. But definitely, I plan to get married and raise a family. However, I must be able to provide for them.

Most expensive habit: Treating friends and clients. I once spent 1,000 dollars (Sh82,000) a night.

Net worth: Below Sh600 million.

Contacts: My contacts are at http://www.propertyreality.co.ke

Kevin Muringa

Age: 40

Title: Group Chief Executive Officer of several companies with interests in construction, transport, real estate, import and export of cereals, large scale farming in Sudan and Angola. Dealing with Petroleum Products.

Background: As a high school pupil he started buying cows and selling them to Kenya Meat Commission. He made his first million at 20 years. He bought his first car at 21 and it was a Mercedes S Class. At 23 years he bought his first house in South B.

First business venture: Selling cows.

Advice to youth: Nothing comes easy. Dreams can only be true if you wake up and work on them. I am a staunch Catholic and prayers work miracles. I thank God for all I have. And as Steve Jobs said, why should I be the richest man in the cemetery? I give back to the society as well.

Holiday destinations: Two holidays per year to Bahamas, Dubai, Turkey or Mombasa. This Easter he plans to travel to Israel with his family.

Residences: Several homes in Kenya but currently moving to a Sh270 million house with expansive gardens in Westlands area.

Ride: Owns a cargo Boeing 767 and a 10,000 tonnes ocean liner. His collection of cars includes BMW 3 Series, BMW X5, Range Rover Sports, two Ford Off Road, a H2 Hummer and convertible Mustang.

Marital status: Married.

Most expensive habit: When young, I used to hire choppers every weekend to fly me out of Nairobi with a few friends. I am now too old for that. I would rather spend the money on charity.

Net worth: My war chest to campaign for Nairobi Governor is Sh2 billion, so you can guess my net worth.

Hussein Mohammed

Age: 34 years

Title: CEO

Company: Humora Holdings with interest in real estate, green energy, construction, stocks and securities and hospitality.

Background: I come from a humble background, grew up in the slums. I know what hard life is.

First business venture: Designing and selling uniforms while still in high school. There after, I got employed. At 25, I was the national head of sales for Safaricom. I resigned a year later to focus on my business and I have no regrets.

Advice to the youth: Believe in yourself. Never give up. I have failed so many times than I have succeeded, but the successes have been astounding! It’s never too late or too early to start a business.

Holiday destinations: Two holidays a year. We love Cape Town, Thailand, or the United States.

Residence: Own house, a four-bedroom home in Westlands.

Ride: Prado TX and Mercedes E-Class

Marital Status: I am married with two lovely kids.

Most expensive habit: CSR, as a company, we have spent more than Sh50 million on Xtreme Sports, which is the charity venture for my businesses.

Net worth: Below Sh600 million.

Stephen Chorio

Age: 27 years

Title: Managing Director

Company: Lace Group, which has interest in luxury beauty products, chain of salons, Real estate, supply of electricity poles in Uganda and South Sudan and Car hire.

Background: Marketing degree for Methodist University. Worked at Barclays for five years before venturing into business.

First business venture: Hair salon along Ngong Road.

Advice to youth: You can have all the money in the world but no peace of mind, so do what you enjoy.

Holiday destinations: Dubai. I love desert safaris. Locally, Mombasa does it for me.

Residence: Sh12 million house in Riara.

Ride: Toyota Prado TX and 2010 Range Rover Sports

Marital status: Married with one daughter.

Most expensive habit: Clothes, hosting parties, and membership to private and exclusive golf and leisure clubs.

Mwanga Steve

Age: 36 years

Title: Managing Director at Huddersfield Group, with interests in Aviation, Agriculture, Transport, Farm machinery and equipment

Background: Business Administration degree from a US university. Started business in early 20s.

First business venture: Farming

Advice to youth: Since the youth constitute 70 per cent of the population we have the power to change Kenya. Work hard. Holiday destinations: Turkey, where I usually shop

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000049879&cid=123&

South Sudan Vacancy: Jan 13, 2012

Please directly contact the employer if you have any further questions.

To anyone of interest, please circulate the following job vacancies:

AVSIJobVacanciesIsoheHealth.pdf
AVSIJobVacanciesHealthIkotos&ImotongPHCC.PDF
Advert for Base logistician Alek.pdf
ALO Advert-Kodok.doc
ALO Advert-Kodok page 2.doc
Tearfund Application Form-Irene changes.doc
Vacancy For CLINICAL OFFICER – PHCC INCHARGE.PDF

8 attachments — Download all attachments

Job Adverts-Assistant Health Progect Manager.zip 422K   View   Download

AVSIJobVacanciesIsoheHealth.pdf 216K   View   Download

AVSIJobVacanciesHealthIkotos&ImotongPHCC.PDF 232K   View   Download

Advert for Base logistician Alek.pdf 1012K   View   Download

ALO Advert-Kodok.doc 138K   View   Download

ALO Advert-Kodok page 2.doc 90K   View   Download

Tearfund Application Form-Irene changes.doc 73K   View   Download

Vacancy For CLINICAL OFFICER – PHCC INCHARGE.PDF 336K   View   Download

NORWEGIAN PEOPLES AID, SOUTH SUDAN PROGRAM CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM LAND AND RESOURCES RIGHTS PROJECT CALL FOR A MEDIA TRAINING

We are pleased to inform the media fraternity that Norwegian People’s Aid, Land and Resources Rights Project, is planning to support media training of ten (10) South Sudanese Journalists. The training with a focus on “covering oil” and entailing investigative journalism training will be conducted by African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME). NPA will cover costs of training, transportation, feeding and accommodation. NPA will not cover allowances.

 

About Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)

NPA has worked for 25 years in solidarity with the people of South Sudan. It sees the Media as a decisive factor having a key role and responsibility in channeling information to the public about good governance, transparency and accountability in the nascent Republic of South Sudan.

 

About African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME)

African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) is a Kampala-based independent, non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit professional organisation committed to helping African journalists to seek and achieve excellence as well as improving journalism and mass communication in Africa. They have a specific focused on covering oil issues.

 

Brief on the Training

–          Training of Journalists by African Center for Media Excellence (ACME) in Kampala.

–          Training will focus on “covering oil” which will entail training in investigative journalism.

–          The first part of the training will be conducted in Kampala. It will comprise of 2-week long classroom and field based training.

–          Second part of the training will be in South Sudan. Again this will include training in Juba and later in the field (possibly in Upper Nile or Unity State).

–          In between, the short but intensive training sessions (in Uganda and South Sudan) trainers from ACME will mentor the trainees who will be engaged in investigation and development of news articles in the petroleum sector

 

Training Requirements

–          Be a South Sudanese journalist

–          Have good command of written and spoken English

–          Be able to proof that he/she is actively engaged in the media sector

–          Have interest in investigative journalism and willing to travel to remote areas in South Sudan

 

As this training is an integral part of NPA’s support to the media sector, applicants   who are members of or attached to the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) as well as media houses/organizations that are members of the Association of Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) will have additional advantage. Female journalists are encouraged to apply.

 

Interested applicants with the above requirements should submit applications (covering letter updated CV, copies of their academic certificates and for print journalists a sample of published articles) to the email addresses:jamusj@npaid.org and boboya@npaid.org  by 18^th January 2012.

—
Please visit, Kconnection Homepage below!

web address: http://groups.google.com/group/kconnection

Find: Kconnection on <FaceBook>

CALL FOR A MEDIA TRAINING

Call for Media Training.pdf 199K   View   Download

Museveni, Four Others, Starved At ANC Celebrations

President Museveni inspects a guard of honour on arrival at Blomspruit Airbase in Free State, South Africa, at the weekend.

By TABU BUTAGIRA & AGENCIES  (email the author)
Posted  Thursday, January 12  2012 at  00:00

IN SUMMARY

Media reports indicate that the Ugandan leader ate ‘junk’ food from Nandos outlet while handlers of Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba cooked for him in the dead of the night as another angry President stormed out of the residence.

KAMPALA

President Museveni and other African heads of state were allegedly deprived of food and beddings during their trip last week to attend the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) centenary celebrations, South African media reported yesterday.

News24 reported online that the President’s handlers rushed to Nandos where they bought him grilled chicken for dinner. It is understood Mr Museveni does not like fast-food.

House organisations
The online publication said ANC officials had ordered owners of the houses it rented for VIPs at Woodlands Hills Wildlife Estate to remove all their possessions, leaving liquor as the only consumable in the rooms. President Museveni is a teetotaller.

“Ugandan officials had to leave Woodlands to go and buy duvets (thick bed covers), food and other necessities for the President as there was a bed without linen,” the newspaper reported, quoting Mampho Mmelaedi whom it said was caretaker at the house where Mr Museveni stayed. Deputy Principal Private Secretary Kintu Nyago, who accompanied the President to Bloemfontein city, was not available for comment.

Tamale’s take
However, Presidential Spokesperson Tamale Mirundi last evening said the deputy PPS had briefed him that there was no intentional lapse except that the town was “overwhelmed”. He said: “It is true certain things were not in plenty but I was told the President got a good place which was comfortable and clean.”

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The venue of the celebrations, said Mr Tamale, could not accommodate all guests comfortably “but the good thing is that our President is not a person of luxury”. Critics at home say Mr Museveni lives large, flying aboard a latest model Gulfstream V jet and riding an expensive motorcade.

Mr Tamale had said: “In Africa when there are many visitors, more than a host can provide for, the guests appreciate [the situation]. This was not directed at our President.” The deficit of food and personal effects, News24 reported, also jolted Presidents Bingu wa Mutharika (Malawi), Obiang Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea), Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia) and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.

Namibian officials reportedly went out to buy foodstuff and pots to cook for their President. “I could see he was angry and disappointed,” a witness, Motladi Metsing, told the newspaper.

Other accounts suggested that Benin’s Thomas Boni “stormed out” of Woodlands Hills. Revelations of the organisational hiccups have gone viral on the internet, pushing the ANC government to the edge. In Kampala, Mr Johannes van Niekerk, the political counsellor and chargé d’affaires at the South African High Commission, told this newspaper that: “I am not aware of those [reported lapses] happening or any specific issues regarding President Museveni’s [visit].”

Thousands of guests on Sunday poured into Bloemfontein where ANC, Africa’s oldest political movement, was founded 100 years ago. That Mr Museveni reportedly settled for grilled chicken, if true, would be strange because courtiers say he does not consume birds.

At the height of the demonstrations by a section of Ugandans last year over spiralling food prices and the depreciating shilling, Mr Museveni chided them to stop complaining of hunger and eat local foodstuff. “For me, I only eat traditional food. I don’t change,” he said then. “When you have problems of imported food, for me am not bothered…I am not concerned because all the food am eating is local.”

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

Inside Story – South Sudan: An era of uncertainty (Video)

Dear Esteemed Readers,

In the midst of intensifying violence in South Sudan, threatening to tear it apart–into pieces, it is good to remind ourselves of how this besieged nation came into being in the first place. Was South Sudan a pre-failed state or is it failing now? Please watch this video from Aljazeera:

As South Sudan gains independence from the north, what are the chances and challenges lying ahead for Africa’s newest nation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYE9xgfREes

Security Council Press Statement on South Sudan

The following Security Council press statement was issued on 9 January by Council President Baso Sangqu ( South Africa):

Read watch this video: As South Sudan gains independence from the north, what are the chances and challenges lying ahead for Africa’s newest nation?

The members of the Security Council were briefed on 5 January 2012 by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, on the recent inter-communal violence between the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in Jonglei State in South Sudan.

The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the reports of casualties in Jonglei State. They deplored the loss of life and livelihood of persons affected by the violence, and emphasized the primary responsibility of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to protect its population, in particular the most vulnerable groups such as women and children. The members of the Security Council underscored that violence in any form is unacceptable, and they called on all communities in Jonglei State immediately to end the cycle of conflict and engage in a reconciliatory peace process.

The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to mediate a solution to the crisis and to protect civilians. The members of the Security Council called upon the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to continue to engage in an inclusive processto resolve in a comprehensive manner the root causes of this recurring violence, and to deploy the necessary means to ensure the protection of civilians.

The members of the Security Council commended the early response of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to the situation, including its engagement with the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and the international community, to warn of potential conflict, and its active efforts to adopt effective measures to assist the Government in protecting the civilian population. The members of the Security Council expressed concern with UNMISS’ shortfall of operational air transport assets, which seriously impacts its ability to carry out its mandate, and urged the Secretary-General to continue efforts to address this problem.

The members of the Security Council expressed concern about the quantity and sophistication of weapons used in recent inter-communal conflicts. They encouraged UNMISS to carry forward its support of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan inongoing security-sector reform, as well as the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former rebel fighters, as mandated in Security Council resolution 1996 (2011).

http://www.iewy.com/39767-security-council-press-statement-on-south-sudan.html

Ethnic Killings Fray Unity Marking Birth of South Sudan

Sven Torfinn for The New York Times

A family with a wounded boy waited at a United Nations camp to be evacuated for further treatment. More Photos »

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

PIBOR, South Sudan — The trail of corpses begins about 300 yards from the corrugated metal gate of the United Nations compound and stretches for miles into the bush.

There is an old man on his back, a young woman with her legs splayed and skirt bunched up around her hips, and a whole family — man, woman, two children — all facedown in the swamp grass, executed together. How many hundreds are scattered across the savannah, nobody really knows.

South Sudan, born six months ago ingreat jubilation, is plunging into a vortex of violence. Bitter ethnic tensions that had largely been shelved for the sake of achieving independence have ruptured into a cycle of massacre and revenge that neither the American-backed government nor the United Nations has been able to stop.

The United States and other Western countries have invested billions of dollars in South Sudan, hoping it will overcome its deeply etched history of poverty, violence and ethnic fault lines to emerge as a stable, Western-friendly nation in a volatile region. Instead, heavily armed militias the size of small armies are now marching on villages and towns with impunity, sometimes with blatantly genocidal intent.

Eight thousand fighters just besieged this small town in the middle of a vast expanse, razing huts, torching granaries, stealing tens of thousands of cows and methodically killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of men, women and children hiding in the bush.

The raiders had even broadcast their massacre plans in advance.

“We have decided to invade Murleland and wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth,” the attackers, from a rival ethnic group, the Nuer, warned in a public statement.

The United Nations, which has 3,000 combat-ready peacekeepers in South Sudan, tracked the advancing fighters from helicopters for days before the massacre and rushed in about 400 soldiers. But the peacekeepers did not fire a single shot, saying they were greatly outnumbered and could have easily been massacred themselves.

The attack was presaged by a fund-raising drive for the Nuer militia in the United States — a troubling sign that behind the raiders toting Kalashnikovs and singing war songs was an active back office half a world away. Gai Bol Thong, a Nuer refugee in Seattle who helped write the militia’s statement, said he had led an effort to cobble together about $45,000 from South Sudanese living abroad for the warriors’ food and medicine.

“We mean what we say,” he said in an interview. “We kill everybody. We are tired of them.” (He later scaled back and said he meant they would kill Murle warriors, not civilians.)

Such ethnic clashes were unnervingly common here in 2009, before the final push for independence. More ominous than the small-scale cattle raids that have gone on for generations, the attacks often seemed like infantry maneuvers, fueling accusations that northern Sudanese leaders had shipped in arms to destabilize the south.

But southerners seemed to rally together as the historic referendum on independence from the north drew near. The exuberance brought reconciliation. Major ethnic clashes all but disappeared.

The respite was short lived. Fighting broke out almost immediately along the tense border between north and south. Then, only a month after South Sudan celebrated its independence last July with a new national anthem and a countdown clock that blared “Free at Last,” Murle fighters killed more than 600 Nuer villagers and abducted scores of children. That attack set this month’s massacre into motion.

The makeshift medical clinic here in Pibor now stinks of decaying flesh. It is full of Murle children with bullet holes drilled through their limbs. Many have trudged for days to get here, through swamps and murky rivers, and their wounds are suppurating and gangrenous. The doctors take one look and whisper the word: amputation.

South Sudan’s government has been extremely reluctant to wade into these feuds, because the government itself is a loosely woven tapestry of rival ethnic groups that fought bitterly during Sudan’s long civil war. The Nuer are a crucial piece of the governing coalition, and the Lou Nuer, the subgroup that led the raid on Pibor, supply thousands of soldiers to South Sudan’s army.

“Nuer fighting Nuer?” said a Western diplomat in South Sudan, considering the complications of a military intervention to stop the massacre. “That would be explosive.”

The government has tried to broker peace talks between the Lou Nuer and the Murle, but the negotiations broke down in early December, when the Murle refused to give back abducted children. Nuer leaders then reconstituted the White Army, a fearsome force of Nuer youths that massacred thousands during the 1990s. “We had been begging the government to protect us from the Murle, and they didn’t,” said Mr. Thong, the Nuer organizer in Seattle. The decision was then simple, he said: “to make revenge.”

The government said it was planning a major disarmament campaign for the area, once the rains stopped. Until then, “there’s no justification for anyone to take the law into their own hands,” said South Sudan’s military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer.

As thousands of Nuer fighters poured into Pibor on Dec. 31, United Nations military observers watched them burn down Murle huts and then march off, in single file lines, into the bush, where many Murle civilians were hiding. Murle leaders have complained that they were abandoned in their hour of need. Neither government forces nor the United Nations peacekeepers left their posts in Pibor to protect the civilians who had fled, and it appears that many Murle were hunted down.

Hilde F. Johnson, head of the United Nations mission in South Sudan, said the peacekeepers had warned residents that the fighters were coming. But she argued that the United Nations troops had little choice but to stay on the sidelines. “Protection of civilians in the rural areas and at larger scale would only have been possible with significantly more military capacity,” she said.

The rampage continued until Jan. 3, but the number of dead is far from clear. Joshua Konyi, Pibor’s county commissioner and a Murle, said more than 3,000 had died. Several United Nations officials said they doubted that the numbers were that high because so many people had fled Pibor before the attack, but they agreed that scores, if not hundreds, were killed.

“There are bodies everywhere,” said one United Nations official who was not allowed to speak publicly. “It’s a big area, so I wouldn’t be surprised by 1,000.”

Many survivors spoke of seeing dozens killed in front of their eyes. One spindly Murle woman named Ngadok was shot in the leg as she fled with her 6-year-old son cinched to her back. After she fell, she said, the Nuer raiders stood over her and executed her boy.

“I’m not thinking about anything now,” she said, staring blankly at the white canvas walls of the makeshift medical clinic. “My child is dead.”

Murle fighters are regrouping and have already hit several villages, killing dozens. And it may not be purely about revenge. The Murle survive off cows, and Mr. Konyi said the community had lost more than 300,000.

A helicopter flies low over the savannah, about 20 miles north of Pibor, and the emerald green grass suddenly turns white, brown and black. Down below are cows, thousands and thousands of them, a huge mass of animals as far as the eye can see. These are the Murle cattle, driven by thin young men who look up quizzically at the helicopter, slowly making their way back to Nuerland.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Ethnic Killings Fray Unity Marking Birth of South Sudan
New York Times
PIBOR, South Sudan — The trail of corpses begins about 300 yards from the corrugated metal gate of the United Nations compound and stretches for miles into the bush. There’s an old man on his back, a young woman with her legs splayed, skirt bunched up …

South Sudan Latest Geostrategic Focus As US Approves Defense Exports – Analysis Eurasia Review The US has made the decision to export military equipment and services to the recently independentSouth Sudan. US President Barack Obama gave his approval for future exports to the African nation last week, which faces numerous economic and security …

Security Council Press Statement on South Sudan IEWY News The members of the Security Council were briefed on 5 January 2012 by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, on the recent inter-communal violence between the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in Jonglei State in South Sudan. …

South Sudan Delegation Arrives Khartoum to Discuss Diplomatic Issues Sudan Vision Khartoum – A delegation from South Sudan begins Thursday a five-day official visit to Khartoum, spokesman of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Al-Obeid Ahmed Morawah said in an exclusive a statement to Sudan Vision. The delegation led by Deputy Foreign …

Ethnic tensions on the rise in South Sudan WBEZ Internally displaced persons move in South Sudan, where cattle raids and attacks on villages are destabilizing the new country. There were high expectations and a sense of euphoria when South Sudan gained independence from the North last July. …

All the world’s a stage as Shakespeare goes to South Sudan

By Mark Tutton, CNN

January 12, 2012 — Updated 1235 GMT (2035 HKT)

Director Joseph Abuk Ngbangu explains the plot of Cymbeline to potential cast members at a workshop in Juba.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• South Sudan Theatre Company producing Shakespeare play “Cymbeline” in Juba Arabic
• Juba Arabic is widely spoken in South Sudan
• They will perform the play at London’s Globe Theatre in May
• Theater survived Sudan’s civil war, says the company’s director

(CNN) — A theater company from South Sudan is translating Shakespeare into the local dialect for the first time, before performing the play at London’s Globe Theatre.

Six months after the birth of South Sudan as an independent nation, it is a country still trying to define its culture and national identity.

The South Sudan Theatre Company (SSTC) is helping to develop that culture by performing Shakespeare’s tragedy “Cymbeline” in Juba Arabic — a language spoken widely in South Sudan.

“Shakespeare is a genius writer who wrote about humanity, about greed, jealousy, wars, power, love — he really speaks to the whole world,” said Derik Uya Alfred Ngbangu, the SSTC’s director and producer.

We want to do Cymbeline in a way that speaks to the South Sudanese.
Derik Uya Alfred Ngbangu, SSTC director and producer

“We want to do Cymbeline in a way that speaks to the South Sudanese — in terms of the plot, the kind of conflict that exists here — and make it our own thing,” he added.

Juba Arabic is a pidgin form of Arabic that takes its name from the South Sudanese capital of Juba. Although English has been named South Sudan’s official language since the country’s independence, Juba Arabic is still a lingua franca in much of South Sudan, says Ngbangu.

The SSTC’s production is part of the “Globe to Globe” Festival taking place at London’s Shakespeare Globe Theatre from April. The SSTC will be one of 37 theater groups from around the world performing interpretations of Shakespeare plays in their local language.

The SSTC has already begun adapting Cymbeline and translating it. “We’re looking to cut out unnecessary bits so that 10 actors can do it, instead of perhaps 18,” said Ngbangu. “We’re looking to have a simplified, shortened text that can be performed in one and a half hours instead of three.”

Actors will be drawn from two of South Sudan’s established theater groups, the Kwoto Cultural Centre and the Skylark Dramatist Association, and will include graduates of the University of Juba’s College of Arts, Music and Drama.

Ngbangu says they plan to perform Cymbeline in Juba before taking it to London in May. They are are also looking to make changes to the original to make it more relevant to local audiences, such as using local names and costumes.

The original Cymbeline is set against a backdrop of impending war between ancient Britain and ancient Rome, over the king of Britain’s refusal to pay tribute to Rome; the SSTC is considering changing that to an impending conflict between south and north Sudan, fighting over oil.

Sudan’s real civil war between north and south raged for decades, claiming more than two million lives. But Ngbangu says theater survived those dark years of conflict.

Through theater we can send a lot of messages about unity, about respecting people, about coming together …
Derik Uya Alfred Ngbangu, SSTC director and producer

“Theater has existed throughout the time of the civil war and difficulties,” he said. “War never stopped people coming together through arts — whether music or drama or dance,” he added.

And he believes theater can help build South Sudan, celebrating the fledgling nation’s cultural diversity.

“It is a very cheap art form compared to cinema and TV — you can do it anywhere — move it to the villages and contribute to their understanding of their environment, their struggles, you can do it in schools and teach young people how to do the right thing.

“Through theater we can send a lot of messages about unity, about respecting people, about coming together, about tolerance and civilization.

He added: “There is an old saying — ‘give me a theater and I will give you a nation.'”

As casting and rehearsals begin, Ngbangu is excited at the prospect of performing in London.

“I have been to London several times. It is a land of theater, a land that produced a giant like Shakespeare,” he said.

“To be in London with a Shakespearean play, when we’re a country that will be nine months old at the time, it’s a great thing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/12/world/africa/shakespeare-south-sudan/?hpt=hp_c2

Mysterious “reform memo” mirrors split of Sudan’s Islamists

This news from the Sudan Tribune about a secret memo within the ranks of the NCP, if confirmed true, will validate the wikileak allegation that some leaders within the NCP were uncomfortable with Al-Bashir’s leadership after he earned an indictment from the ICC.

Let’s wait and see; perhaps it may or may not worsen/solve South-North acrimoniousness.

57 People Dead: Murle launches counter attack in Uror County, Jonglei State

January 11, 2012 (PAYUEL) – The cycle of violence in Jonglei state of South Sudan has continued today with youth from the ethnic Murle community launching a counter attack on Uror County, burning down villages, in which many people died, according to a local official

Displaced people from Payuel Payam in Jonglei State of South Sudan fleeing violence that reportedly displaced around 60,000 since it started on 23 December (ST)

The attack, which occurred at 5pm local time, targeted Wek and Panyok villages in Tiam Payam [district], aSudan Tribune reporter said.

According to one of the local administrators of Wek Boma, Tip Chuol, the attackers were heavily armed and overran the villages, rustling a large number of cattle in a round of fighting that continued until midnight.

Lots of women and children are reported to be dead but there is no exact death toll, Chuol said.

The affected area is just about 10 km from the Pajuk, an area visited by aSudan Tribune journalist just 2 hours before the attack took place.

Flames from the burning houses were seen and lots of gun shots heard by Pajut residents this morning, according to a local radio station in Mareng, the headquarters of Duk county administration.

Around 60,000 have been displaced by the violence between the Murle and Lou Nuer, which began on 23 December and lasted until last week, the United Nations has reported.

Pibor County’s Commissioner Konyi has estimated that over 3,000 people have died in the violence, but this has not been independently verified.

(ST)

http://www.sudantribune.com/BREAKING-NEWS-Murle-youth-launch,41270

Murle attack three villages in Uror and killed 30 people plus the chieft of subsection of Uror!

It was confirmed through mirraya FM report and through the villagers
that the defected Murle SPLA soldiers had attacked this week the
villages of Week, Panyuok, Tiam in Uror county at 5:00PM-7:00PM. They
had killed the chieft of villages of Maikiir subsection of Uror county
with 30 people. Many children were missing and women as well. God
bless the victims of those who were killed. The day before yesterday,
they attack Diror, Padoch of Akobo county, and killed many people.
They burn all villages to ashes in Western Akobo while get away with
children. I think it become just like hunting animals to these tribes!

God have mercy on dead human!

Peter

37 Killed In Uror County Of Jonglei State

37 people including a paramount chief have been killed, seven others wounded and over 100 herds of cattle raided in a fresh attack in Uror County of Jonglei State by a group of Murle youths from Pibor County.

12 January 2012

By Pow James Raeth
BOR, 12th January 2012 [Gurtong] – 37 people including a paramount chief were killed yesterday, seven others wounded and over a hundred herds of cattle raided in a fresh attack in Uror County of Jonglei State by a group of Murle youth of Pibor County.

According to the Commissioner of Uror, Mr Simon Hoth Dol the attack happened yesterday at 6:00pm in two villages namely Weck and Panyuok of Urol County, where several houses were burnt and 37 people killed in the melee mostly defenceless women and children including the head chief.

Hoth has called upon the State and National governments, local and international NGOs, to access the affected areas and provide humanitarian assistance since the villages were burnt to ashes hence no shelter to the displaced persons and to deploy security forces for civilian protection.

The Commissioner blamed the National government for neglecting other areas of Lou Nuer and instead heavily deployed forces in Pibor County leaving other conflicting areas vulnerable to attacks.

The Lou Nuer occupied areas have so far suffered a series of attacks in Walgak, Diror, Dengjok, Padio, Yidit and Waat claiming over 100 people in 2012 alone since the withdrawal of Lou youths on the 2nd January 2012 from Pibor headquarters.

Wiechyol Nyang, the deputy head chief in Weck village, where his boss was killed told Gurtong via phone from Weck that, the attackers were heavily armed, dressed in the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) uniform and estimated the number to be around 600 youths.

Urol County is one of the three Counties of the greater Lou Nuer (Greater Akobo) that has suffered most of the consequence of the Lou Nuer – Murle conflict, in Agust 2011 Urol County lost over 600 people who were killed in Pieare payam mostly women and children according to a United Nations report.

In a statement to Gurtong media, Gabriel Duop Lam, the Jonglei State Minister of Law Enforcement said that, the extra police force sent from juba in addition to the already 3000 armed police in Jonglei are still not enough to cover the vast areas of Jonglei State.

Duop added that, the Sudan People Liberation Army is also being deployed to join the South Sudan police and the UN troops in patrolling conflict-prone borders.

Uror County cannot be accessed by land or water from Bor, the State headquarters, and has no telecommunication network, hence making it difficult to provide security in the shortest time possible.

In another development, a policeman who was among the 2,000 extra police force sent to Pibor by the National government to protect civilians, Mr. Tut Kecth, was yesterday evening found dead, killed in cool blood just a few meters from Pibor main market, .

Mr. Tut happened to be from the Nuer community of Nassir, Upper Nile State.

The Commissioner of Pibor Mr. Joshua Konyi said, he learned of the incident and said the police authority in the County are investigating what led to the death of Cdr. Tut Kecth.
http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/ArticleView/mid/519/articleId/6303/37-killed-In-Uror-County-Of-Jonglei-State.aspx

Murle Army Attacked Uror County and killed 57 people

*Ali Sadig Farah 

(JUBA – UNT) Minister of Information Dr. Benjamin addressed the reporters today at the nation capital (Juba). He said, “ the new ethnic clashes in Jonglei State have left 57 people dead.”

Dr. Benjamin said that in the latest clash “57 people got killed, and most of them are women and children. The men among them are only 11.”

He added that on Wednesday 53 people were wounded in the attack on Wek village in Uror County.

“Around 60 members from the Murle tribe dressed in military uniforms carried out the raid, taking over 20,000 cows from the rival Nuer tribe area as part of an ongoing cattle vendetta,” according to the Minister of Information

“The Murle attacked from 1700 hours (1400 GMT) until midnight. That’s why so many families got killed in their homes,” Benjamin added.

South Sudan declared Jonglei a national “disaster area” while the United Nations has said it will launch a “massive” emergency operation to help some 60,000 people affected by the violence.

In December about 6,000 Nuer Youths Army marched on the remote town of Pibor in troubled Jonglei state, home to the rival Murle people, who they blame for cattle raiding and have vowed to wipe out the entire Murle Tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle.

There are more than 1,000 people have been killed in ethnic clashes within South Sudan this year, with Jonglei one of the states worst affected by the violence. Thousands more civilians have been displaced from their homes.

“This is a revenge attack — definitely they are coming to attack the Lou Nuer,” Benjamin said of the most recent attack.

Medical charity Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres – MSF) said it had airlifted 12 people to its hospital in Nasir, in neighboring Upper Nile state for urgent surgical treatment.

“Five adult women and one adult man had gunshot wounds and the remaining six patients were children under five, with beating or gunshot wounds,” MSF said in a statement.

The statement said the group’s head of mission Jose Hulsenbeck “expressed shock at the number of women and children injured in this latest round of violence.”

Benjamin said 100 troops were already on their way to the remote area in northern Jonglei from a base in Wat, 50 kilometres (35 miles) away, and more would soon follow.

After an attack on a Nuer area on Sunday that reportedly killed 24 people, Jonglei governor Kuol Manyang warned that a Murle captain had “deserted with 30 people” to take revenge for his people.

UNTIMES

http://untimes.org/index.php/south-sudan/item/545-98765467897655678865788

South Sudan Offers Crude Oil Despite Export Woes

South Sudan offers crude oil despite export woes
Reuters Africa
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – South Sudan is offering more than 6 million barrels of crude oil on the spot market even though it cannot guarantee vessels will be able to load the cargoes at the Sudanese port, traders and shipbrokers said on Thursday. …

US military officers to join UN in South Sudan
Sudan Tribune
January 11, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Five US military officers will be dispatched to join the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as it struggles with the fallout of recent violence in the new state. The White House on Tuesday announced that the officers would …

South Sudan accuses Sudan of stealing oil UPI.com JUBA, South Sudan, Jan. 11 (UPI) — South Sudan’s oil minister charged north Sudan was stealing its country’s crude oil and threatened to sue any country or company that bought the oil. Stephen Dhieu Dau, minister of petroleum and mining, said Sudan …

South Sudan signs MoU with UAE Investment Company Sudan Tribune January 11, 2012 (ABU DHABI) – As part of the ongoing efforts to mobilise foreign investment South Sudan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in order to invest in various …

In South Sudan, Russian Pilots Weren’t Under Contract to Fly to Pibor Conflict … Inner City Press By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive UNITED NATIONS, January 11 — In the wake of the mass killings in Pibor in South Sudan, still not counted by the UN Mission there, behind closed doors a new reason for the failure to protect civilians is being offered …

UNMISS says has returned to W. Bahr El Ghazal after cross border raids Sudan Tribune January 11, 2012 (RUMBEK) – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said on Wednesday that Raja County in Western Bahr El Ghazal state had returned to normal after a cross border bombing from North Sudan in December. …