The UN flew Riek Machar to the DRC Congo, a Western diplomat said

UN Flew Riek Machar to DRC Congo

Wall Street Journal: The United Nations flew Mr. Machar to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Western diplomat said. He arrived in Kinshasa on Wednesday, said Lambert Mende, Congo’s information minister. Mr. Machar’s aides said he is expected to stay for some days before traveling to Ethiopia. 

The U.N.’s decision to help Mr. Machar could widen a rift between the government of South Sudan and the U.N. mission there ahead of the deployment of an additional 4,000 peacekeepers under the U.N. mission, which the government has called unnecessary and a violation of sovereignty.

The Western diplomat said the U.N. helped Mr. Machar because it believed it was very possible the South Sudanese army would eventually capture and kill him, a move it feared could restart the civil war, and not because of any desire to assist Mr. Machar personally.

VOA’s South Sudan in Focus: BREAKING NEWS: UN Spokesperson says the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission, a UN Peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo helped safely move Riek Machar, his wife and 10 others from the DRC-South Sudan border into the care of DRC authorities.

DRC gov’t spokesman denies the presence of Riek Machar in Congo’s capital Kinshasa

Aug 19: The Congolese government once again on Friday denied any knowledge of South Sudan’s former vice president Riek Machar being in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A UN official had said on Thursday that Machar had escaped from South Sudan to the DRC with the help of the UN mission following a request from Congolese authorities. “Riek Machar is not in the hands of the DRC authorities,” Lambert Mende, spokesperson for the DRC government, told RFI. “If he is in our country, he entered the country without our permission.” Mende’s comments, however, contradict the position of the UN which played a key role in helping transfer Machar and his family from a location near the border with South Sudan to elsewhere in the DRC. “Riek Machar has been handed over to the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we’re not in a position to confirm his location,” said Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the UN in New York.

Aug 18: “I’m not aware of such information, until now nobody has told us,” said DRC government spokesperson Lambert Mende. “I don’t know, really I’m not able to tell you anything about it.”

By Daniel Finnan

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Congolese authorities told RFI on Thursday denied all knowledge of whether Riek Machar, leader of South Sudan’s SPLM-IO, has travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier reports indicated that Machar, who was recently sacked from the post of vice-president, had travelled across the border into the DRC and flown to the capital Kinshasa where he would travel on to Addis Ababa.

“I’m not aware of such information, until now nobody has told us,” said DRC government spokesperson Lambert Mende. “I don’t know, really I’m not able to tell you anything about it.”There had been reports that Machar had arrived in Kinshasa on Monday, citing a senior Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) official.

It is fashionable for South Sudanese government officials to hold multiple positions in the same government

By Malith Alier, Juba, South Sudan

Sabina Dario Lokolong, deputy minister for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Nov 2011

August 18, 2016 (SSB) — W has recently got an appointment as head of an Independent Commission while at the same time an advisor to the President.

X has become a state Governor while being an MP in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA)?

Y is a serving army officer but has also got an appointment to a political position, Mangar-rial County Commissioner, to which Y will return to the military upon losing that political posting.

Z is a serving party official but was recently appointed to hold ambassadorial position in diplomatic corps.

Poor economic infrastructure and political instability contribute to food shortage in South Sudan

By Madhieu Thiep Madhieu, Juba, South Sudan

Abel Majur Leek’s farm in Mareng, Bor, Jonglei state

August 18, 2016 (SSB) — Road transport is one of the cheapest mean commonly used by poor, average and rich class of people globally. All mean of transport including roads are vital and compulsory to be established by government in any promising nation like South Sudan. In this newest nation, roads connectivity, maintenance and repairs and construction have been heavily sidelined and remain a great challenge since we were under Khartoum regime, until the country broke away via plebiscite in Feb. 2011.

Major roads highways connecting former ten states with national capital are completely spoiled and remained flooded during rainy season, hampering transportation of commodities to various states and counties headquarters respectively. An example is Juba-Rumbek-Wau road which is the main route supplying greater Bhar-El Ghazal states with goods had been badly damaged beyond description and repair.

This highway becomes flood with rain water during wet months of the year forcing trucks to camp alongside the roads, for quiet handful number of days or month. Some heavy trucks overturned on this muddy path, with goods causing lives lost and injuries while dozen stuck for a months. This culminated to delayment of food supply reaching the affected areas quickly and forced half a million of people to acute food shortage in the country.

President Kiir address to the transitional assembly: Response to the UNSC resolution

President Kiir Speech to the Transitional National Legislative Assembly in Juba, 15 August 2016

What President Kiir and VP Taban should do to ensure that ARCISS is not hijacked in the name of regional intervention force

By Mariak Chol Majok, Kampala, Uganda

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August 18, 2016 (SSB) —- When the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) was formed by the Government of South and the SPLM/A-IO, under the leadership of then, former First Vice-President Dr. Riek Machar, there were high hopes that it would be the end of the war that had afflicted serious of damages to our beloved nation.

However, all that came out was disappointment and betrayal to South Sudanese populace who accepted the peace considering the surreptitious content and intransigent and reneging tendencies on the side of the opposition.

The so-called partners and guarantors of the peace were also hard to fathom, given the way some of these monitors were acting, issuing threats of sanctions and arms embargo when the two parties were committed to implement peace. These moves were meant by the foreign powers that have their varied interests to keep us fighting ourselves so as they keep plundering with our country.

South Sudan: A swimming pool for foreigners with vested interests and ulterior motives?

By Michael Chol Tor, Juba, South Sudan

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August 18, 2016 (SSB) — South Sudanese were all united under Sudan people’s Liberation Army and movement SPLA/M umbrella before independent. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement in 1983 and was a key participant of the 2^nd Sudanese Civil war. He was succeeded by his chief of staff, Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, a co-founder of the SPLA/M.

The SPLM was originally the political wing of the SPLA, an insurgency that waged for 22 years against Khartoum based government of Sudan, before joining the national government in 2005 peace deal that also made SPLM as the ruling party in Southern Sudan.

The 2005 CPA established the SPLA as Sudanese army in Southern Sudan while Sudan Army Force (SAF) was considered the army of northern Sudan. The SPLM has ruled South Sudan since the CPA and won elections in 2010, securing its position as the dominant political force ahead of the country’s vote for independence in 2011.