Kenya’s president yesterday urged South Sudan’s leaders to resolve their political differences peacefully and to stop the violence that has displaced more than 120,000 people in the world’s newest country.
In a speech at a summit for regional leaders in Nigeria’s capital, Nairobi, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta cited the example of late former South African president Nelson Mandela and said there is “a very small window of opportunity to secure peace” in South Sudan, where fighting since Dec. 15 has raised fears of a full-blown civil war.
“Many of you were in South Africa earlier this month for the burial of the great Nelson Mandela,” Kenyatta said. “We fully accept our late icon’s wisdom in understanding that great adversity can only be reasonably born where there is a determination to forge societies and communities that are positively transformed.”
Photo: EPA
The summit, which is focusing on South Sudan, is expected to produce a road map for peace talks between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former South Sudanese vice president Riek Machar, Kiir’s political rival who is accused of orchestrating a failed coup that the government says sparked unrest across the oil-producing East African country.
South Sudan peacefully broke away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of a brutal war of independence. The young country has been plagued by corruption, ethnic tension and a power struggle within the ruling party that pits Kiir against Machar.
Machar, the alleged leader of renegade forces now in control of some parts of South Sudan, remains a fugitive wanted by the military. At least 10 of his political allies are in detention for their roles in the alleged coup plot.
Machar denies there was a coup attempt and some officials with the ruling party insist violence broke out when presidential guards from Kiir’s majority Dinka tribe tried to disarm guards from the Nuer ethnic group, leading to wider military clashes along ethnic lines.
The number of internally displaced people continues to rise, with many seeking shelter at UN compounds across the country.
There are sporadic military clashes in the oil-rich states of Unity and Upper Nile, potentially endangering the oil revenues that South Sudan depends on to keep the government running.
The UN is also investigating alleged mass killings in the latest violence.
“We have heard reports of extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions of civilians, ill-treatment, abuse and also mass graves,” said Hilde Johnson, head of the UN mission in South Sudan. “Our human rights officers have been working around the clock throughout this crisis, and they are investigating these reports and allegations.”
Following a meeting on Thursday with the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya, Kiir agreed “in principle” to stop hostilities and to negotiate with Machar, who is expected to be formally invited to attend upcoming peace talks, South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft