Kenya opposition leader Raila Odinga has called off protests planned for Monday to allow for bipartisan discussions on the formation of the country’s electoral commission.
Mr Odinga spoke an hour after President William Ruto asked him to call them off and allow for dialogue.
The opposition has been protesting twice a week against the cost of living, the formation of a new electoral commission and questioning the president’s election last year.
President Ruto has agreed to one demand and proposed a bi-partisan engagement in parliament on the reconstitution of the electoral commission.
But his statement did not mention the cost of living. He also asked Mr Odinga to respect the constitution and the supreme court, which validated his election last year.
In his speech, Mr Odinga acknowledged the president’s calls for dialogue and described Mr Ruto’s statement as important.
But he warned that protests would resume within one week if the talks did not bear fruit.
The culprits involved in the attack on a convoy of the World Food Program in Jonglei State on March 17, have been arrested, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said. Continue reading Suspects in WFP convoy attack reportedly arrested
Over 140 claimants have sued the national government in the East Africa Court of Justice over what they describe as the fraudulent allocation of their plots by the Central Equatoria government to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in 2014.
This is according to Advocate Wani Santino Jada of the Juba-based Pan African Law Chamber, LLP who is representing the landowners.
The 893 plots in Durupi South area, South-west of the national capital Juba along the Juba-Yei road, are hosting tens of thousands of internally displaced persons.
He says the area was allocated to the individuals between 2008 to 2009.
But in 2014, some former state authorities designated the plots to UNMISS after it requested land to provide shelter and protection for the IDPs following the 2013 violence.
In a letter seen by Eye Radio, the former State Minister of Physical Infrastructure, Jimmy Wongo, now a lawmaker at the state legislature approved the request and wrote to UNMISS to resettle the IDPs in Durupi South block 1 and 2 but the deal elapsed in the same year.
Late March this year, representatives of the embattled landowners and their lawyer met with the Acting Foreign Affairs Minister to petition the national government over the matter.
They accused UNMISS of not performing due diligence before acquiring the land from the Central Equatoria State government.
Advocate Wani Jada says UN Mission in South Sudan has been occupying the land without any proper documents from the plot owners.
The advocate also says that UNMISS refused to establish contacts and recognize the plot owners’ rights despite getting a notification.
Speaking to Eye Radio, Advocate Wani Santino Jada says the owners are demanding UNMISS to vacate the IDPs from the area and compensate them for having sued the land illegally for over ten years.
“The plot owners of Durupi are demanding that the Government of South Sudan ensure United Nations Mission in South Sudan vacates the land with immediate effect,
“UNMISS to compensate the land owners adequately,
“Thirdly, to rehabilitate the deteriorated land as a result of potholes and sewage UNMISS created within Durupi.
The landowners also demanded that UNMISS apologizes for acquiring the land without prior agreement with bonified owners.”
On February 28, 2023, Francis Ladu Louis Laku who is the Deputy Director of Town Planning compiled preliminary facts about the area and shared the findings with the chairperson of a fact-finding committee that investigated the dispute with UNMISS, and as well the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The report confirmed that the area being occupied by the Protection of Civilian Site was allotted to individuals since 2009 by the then Central Equatoria State Government.
Some plots are designated as health centers, basic schools, mosques, supermarkets, and playing grounds.
However, the advocate at the Pan African Law Chamber, LLP says the rightful owners last month petitioned the government of South Sudan and the UN mission in the country in the East Africa Court of Justice to seek the evacuation of the IDPs and compensation to the landowners.
Lawyer Jada addressed to the petition to Dr. Peter Mathuki, the General Secretary of the East Africa Community with copies to President Salva Kiir, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, South Sudan Justice Ministry and the special representative of the UN Secretary-General and UNIMSS Nicholas Haysom.
When contacted, ex-minister Jimmy Wongo said, ” I can’t comment on Something that is already in court.”
In an email to Eye Radio on February 22, UNMISS said the land was returned to the government of South Sudan when the site was re-designated a couple of years ago.
“Regarding areas in Durupi where internally displaced people have taken shelter, UNMISS had used the land under Article 16 of the SOFA, until the situation in the country improved,
“All UN protection sites, except for the one in Malakal, Upper Nile, have been redesignated into Internally Displaced Persons’ camps, under the sovereign control of the Government of South Sudan.,” read the statement.
According to the UNMISS, “the re-designation of UN protection sites has enabled the UNMISS to reach more people in need and build the capacity of local police and the justice system to protect their citizens.”
UNMISS did not state the exact date when the area was redesignated.
But on September 2022, Central Equatoria governor Emmanuel Adil remarked in writing stating his observations on the Memorandum of understanding with UNMISS.
He said regarding the transition of the Juba Protection of Civilians Sites, his government was mindful of the need to address the emergency needs o the IPDs within Juba to ensure their peace and dignity inside the camps and prepare them for community integration.
In a five-point bulletin, Adil suggested the need for coordination between the South Sudan National Police Service and UNMISS to make up the security arrangements.
He also called for coordination mechanisms and technical arrangements by the state land authorities and the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission to be put in place.
However, he encouraged the voluntary return of the IPDs to their homes.
However, in a letter dated March 2nd,2023, Emmanuel John Loro, a legal advisor in Central Equatoria State Ministry of Housing, Lands and Public Utilities admitted that UNMISS requested the land and the regime of Clement Wani Kongna offered the space without any agreement.
Loro stated that the former minister acted under the directive of the former state leader sip.
He recommended that UNMISS comes to an agreement with the landowners, and the state government to witness.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the 1st Director General in the State Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development to submit a complete list of names and contacts of the land owners.
Lumumba Makelel Nyajok who is the Director of Consular Affairs in the Foreign Affairs Ministry also requested a letter from the Central Equatoria State government allocating the land to UNMISS.
The High Court in Juba today has sentenced a National Revenue Authority officer to 7 years imprisonment for theft of 150 financial forms.
The incident happened in 2021 when the National Revenue Authority accused one of its officers of stealing 150 finances forms.
Mading Mayen Randhal was assigned to send the forms to Renk County of Upper Nile, where they got missing later.
Mayen narrated that due to a lack of transportation, he called Mabior Mayen Lueth to help him transfer the form to the airport.
Mayen accused his partner of the crime Mabior Mayen Lueth’s confiscation of the financial forms.
He says because of the delay of the flight he left the forms in his partners’ vehicle and that is an argument that his lawyer failed to prove.
However, the judge found him guilty of mistrust under section 351 of the South Sudan penal act 2008 and ordered him to pay 250 million pounds worth of the lost forms.
Judge Garanga Ajak acquitted the second accused telling him that the court send him free not because he is innocent but because the first accused failed to approve his responsibility for the crime
Advocate Kacual Benjamin Makoi, the first accused defense lawyers say he will appeal against the verdict describing it as unfair.
Benjamin says the National Authority is responsible because it fails to provide transport means to his client to transfer the forms.
” Due to lack of mobility, he called on his cousin who is the second accused to bring the forms home. They were using his car wheN he runway with the forms and sold them out,
“In this case, releasing the second accused is not a right decision because he is the beneficiary of the loss of the forms and I am going to appeal against the verdict, he said.
In her response to the court verdict today Mabior Mayen Lueth the second accused defense lawyer says her client had nothing to do with the accused and the case.
“My client had nothing to do with him because his client works as an officer in the army while he is the one working in the Revenue Authority,
“He thought that accusing my client that he left the forms in my client’s car would deny him the charge. My client spent a year in prison and today [Thursday] he was released,” said Egbal John Akon
The Dinka Malual of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Arab Misseriya of Sudan are holding a peace conference on cross-border crimes that resulted in the killing of at least one hundred people in the past two years.
The five-day dialogue which began yesterday aims to address the seasonal conflict over grazing land and cross-border crimes including cattle raiding between the two communities.
According to Northern Bahr el Ghazal state Information Minister, cross-border insecurity has resulted in the killing of 75 Dinka Malual natives and 25 Arab Mesiriyas in the past two years.
William Anyuan told Eye Radio earlier today that the conference will decide to either compensate the victims or bring their perpetrators to book.
“They want to see whether the criminals will be brought to the book or they will do the usual blood compensation of the people who were killed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the regional peace coordinator at the South Sudan Peace Commission described the conference that is being attended by government officials from South Sudan and Sudan as a breakthrough.
“I believe this is a breakthrough from our chiefs and the joint-border peace committee,” because he said “there have been a lot of resolutions set all these years, but the two governments have never come together.
Mr. William Kolong assured the citizens that the resolutions of the conference will be implemented by both governments and the Chiefs.
“There will be resolutions that the chiefs and joint border peace committee have to implement,” he added.
For his part, Bakar Abdeljelil Bakar, the head of a Sudanese delegation expressed optimism his government will act on the expected outcome of the peace conference.
“The resolutions that we will come up with will be approved and sent to the state level to be a law so, that we can arrest the criminals and to hold everyone accountable,” he said.
The peace conference is funded by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other international Agencies,
