March 16, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - A leading member of the SPLM-N Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu slammed a recent statement by the government about the resumption of peace talks and described it as «false pledges.» On February 28, the Council of Ministers announced the approval of a work programme for the second transitional government after the participation of armed movements, including the resumption of negotiations with the SPLM-North led by Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu. "The cabinet has not contacted the (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Peace talks with SPLM-N, Darfur groups

By Garang Kuot Kuot Five days ago, Match 13, 2021, we accompanied Comrade Stephen Wieu Guot, the newly appointed Commissioner of Aweil West County to Nyamlell where he was scheduled to assume his official duties as a Commissioner. Below is a detailed account of what transpired on that day. Where to Raise the County's Flag On Mach 6, 2021, during the swearing-in ceremony of the State government, Governor Tong Akeen Ngor, gave a verbal directive to Commissioners of five Counties of new (...) - Comment & Analysis

March 15 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir was on Monday briefed by the committee for the establishment of states local governments and national parliament. Kiir, the presidency said in a statement, was also briefed on the status of the establishment of state local governments, in relations to the executive, advisors, commissions, status of the reconstitution of the revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly and Council of States. The chairman of the committee, (...) - News

March 15, 2021 (JUBA) - The Leadership Council of South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) has appointed Amb. Emmanuel Aban Ajawin as the Secretary General of the coalition. The appointment of Ajawin, a member of the SSOMA Leadership Council, took effective from March 13, the group said in a statement issued on Monday. The position of the Secretary General of SSOMA is six-month rotational position among members of SSOMA's Leadership Council “The SSOMA Leadership Council (...) - News / South Sudan, South Sudanese Opposition

March 15, 2021 (KAUDA) - SPLM-North Vice Chairman Joseph Tuka has denied reports claiming he had received military support from Ethiopia to carry out an attack on a border town in Blue Nile State. On 8 March, the official Sudan News Agency said that Tuka, one of the most prominent aides of Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, received weapons and ammunition from Ethiopia in the Yabous area on February 27th, to occupy Kurmuk town to disperse the efforts of the Sudanese army on the eastern front. “For us, (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Ethiopia

March 15, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The United States supports collaborative efforts to break the deadlock in the talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said the State Department on Monday. The Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has requested the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union to mediate the stalled talks on the filling and operation of the GERD. Asked by reporters about Washington's position from this request, which is backed by the (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

March 14, 2021 (JUBA) – At least 85 international and governmental organisations in South Sudan have urged the British government to reconsider urgently the reported 59% budget cuts to vital international aid. South Sudan, according to the recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, is likely to face «catastrophic» food insecurity at a number of locations across the country, with over 60% of the population projected to face crisis or worse levels of food insecurity. “Humanitarian (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, United Kingdom (UK) / Great Britain (GB), South Sudan

March 14, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Olympic Committee, on Sunday, retook over its headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, after its occupation by the fighter of the Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Arko Minnawi (SLM-MM) without prior permission. The movement's forces arrived in the capital, Khartoum, two weeks ago, in coordination with the Sudanese army, but they were not received in a military barracks. The Olympic Committee protested against the occupation of its site near the (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

March 14, 2021 (JUBA) - The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) has started rotation of its peacekeeping troops serving in Malakal town of Upper Nile state under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. According to the Rwandan army, the first group of 128 peacekeepers from 157 Infantry Battalion left Kigali on March 10 to replace the 105 Infantry Battalion, whose first batch returned home. Speaking on behalf of the Rwandan Chief of Defence Staff, Brig Gen John Bosco Rutikanga urged forces on a (...) - News / Rwanda, Peacebuilding, South Sudan

March 14, 2021 (KHARTOUM - Sudan formally requested the African, the European Union, the United State and the United State to mediate the stalled process over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Sudan Tribune has learnt on Sunday. "The Sudanese Prime Minister, who returned from Cairo on Friday, sent a message to the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo who is also the Chairperson of the African (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

March 13, 2021 (JUBA) – South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has urged the country's National Revenue Authority to continue implementing the reforms and measures needed to increase non-oil revenues. He made the remarks while meeting the Commissioner-General of the revenue body, Patrick Mugoya at his office in Juba on Friday. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mugoya said the South Sudanese leader briefed them on tax exemptions, further giving them specific guidance on how to strengthen (...) - News / South Sudan Peace Implementation, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

March 13, 2021 (JUBA) - The Egyptian government has sent humanitarian assistance to the displaced people in South Sudan. The shipment of relief aid provided by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) was handed over by the Egyptian ambassador to South Sudan, Mohamed Kaddah. The Egyptian Foreign Affairs ministry, in a statement, said the items, which included half a tonne of medicines, was “intended to alleviate human suffering in centres of displaced people in South (...) - News / Humanitarian, Egypt

March 13, 2021 (NYALA) - Sudanese government forces recovered equipment stolen from the former UNAMID team site in Minwashi in South Darfur State and arrested two suspects. Residents of the Minwashi area looted the former site of the peacekeeping site which had been handed over to the Sudanese government last February. But the local authorities reacted swiftly and managed to stop the looters. Tijani Hanoun South Darfur Governor stated on Saturday that joint forces have recovered more than (...) - News / Darfur peacekeeping mission (UNAMID)

March 8, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan's government has resumed peace talks with a section of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), despite splits within the opposition grouping. The talks, facilitated by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, were scheduled to resume last month, but were adjourned after some government delegates tested positive for coronavirus. Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Monday, the presidential special envoy and one of the lead negotiators, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said (...) - News / South Sudan, South Sudanese Opposition

March 8, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support (DOS), was in the Abyei area on Sunday before to concluded his visit to Sudan, said the UN spokesman on Monday. Last week Khare was in Sudan where he met with Sudanese officials and inspected the drawdown of the UNAMID forces in the Darfur region. Before to move to Darfur, the head of the UNDOS signed a Framework Agreement with the Sudanese Government on the handover of UNAMID team sites and assets, (...) - News / Abyei

March 8, 2021 (JUBA) – The mobile operator Zain has launched a commercial 4G offering in the South Sudanese capital, Juba. In a statement on social media, South Sudan's Ministry of ICT and Postal Services said the launch was carried out in collaboration with the National Communication Authority (NCA). For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Zain South Sudan, Khalid Abdalla said the company is committed to deliver the highest standard customer experience. "We are delighted in making (...) - News / Telecommunications, South Sudan

By Roger Alfred Yoron Modi President Salva Kiir's recent Republican Decrees “for the Reconstitution and Appointment of State Advisors, State Ministers, Members of State Independent Commissions and County Commissioners” has not only generated mixed reactions on the Constitutionality of those decrees but also, so far, presented glimpses of implications that going forward, shall continue to affect the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in (...) - Comment & Analysis

March 7, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese government raised the price at which it buys locally produced new-season wheat to 13,500 Sudanese pounds per sack to support farmers and to encourage them to increase future production. Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok Sunday visited Al-Jazira State to inaugurate the winter harvest season of wheat in the largest agricultural scheme which covers over 2 million acres, where are working about 130 thousand farmers. Speaking to the farmers in his first visit (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

March 2, 2021 (NAIVASHA) – The opposition South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) has officially launched its long-awaited constitution. Unveiling of the movement's constitution took place during a meeting of the general assembly in Naivasha, Kenya on Saturday. Speaking during the meeting, SSUF/A chairman General Paul Malong Awan urged constitutionalism, rule of law and respect for human rights. He said for South Sudan to exit the current critical era in its history, the young nation must (...) - News / South Sudan, Constitution & Citizenship

March 7, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - A delegation from the International Criminal Court (ICC) held meetings with Sudanese officials to prepare a visit of Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to the Darfur region and the activities of investigation teams alike. During her visit to Sudan last October, Bensouda expressed her wish to visit the Darfur region and to meet the victims of the former regime before the end of its term in June 2021. Also, last February, an ICC team signed a cooperation Memorandum of (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

March 8, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Ethiopian government has recently supplied weapons and ammunition to a Sudanese rebel group to attack a border town in the Blue Nile State, said the official news agency SUNA on Sunday. The attacks by the Ethiopian army-backed militiamen on the border area and the counter-attacks by the Sudanese forces undermined the good entente between the two countries when Addis Abbas in December 2020 claimed the ownership of al-Fashaga which lies within Sudan's (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

By Antonio Guterres As the world marks International Women's Day in the midst of a global pandemic, one stark fact is clear: the COVID-19 crisis has a woman's face. The pandemic is worsening already deep inequalities facing women and girls, erasing years of progress towards gender equality. Women are more likely to work in sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Most essential frontline workers are women — many from racially and ethnically marginalized groups and at the bottom of the (...) - Comment & Analysis

March 6, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The visiting Egyptian President announced his agreement with Sudanese officials to reject the fait accompli policy that Ethiopia is trying to impose with regard to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) process. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Khartoum on Saturday, in his first visit to the neighbouring country since the ouster of President Omer al-Bashir. The visit takes place after the signing of military cooperation agreements between (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopia

March 5, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - A new batch of former Darfur rebel forces arrived in Khartoum on Friday in accordance with the peace deal struck in Juba on 3 October 2021. Several Darfur armed groups sent some units of their combatants to Khartoum for training courses with the Sudanese army while the remaining forces have been gathered in cantonment sites in Western Sudan states after returning to Sudan. The Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity (SLM-Unity) forces arrived in Khartoum state on (...) - News

March 5, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - United Nations Secretary-General has urged the Sudanese government to clearly define its financial needs for the implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement so that the international community support its implementation. António Guterres made his call in his 90- day report to the Security Council about the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITMAS) which is mandated with the support of the democratic transition and (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Regime change in Sudan & transition

March 5, 2021 (JUBA) - The National Salvation Front (NAS) leader announced the formation of a 61-member political body to guide the action of the holdout rebel group. In a statement issued on 4 February, Thomas Cirillo Swaka said the formation of the NAS Salvation Council is in line with several decisions by the group's leadership to establish its political structures. The newly formed political organ comprises a number of notable academics, senior military officers, politicians, women, (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, National Salvation Front (NAS)

Comment on South Sudan Other War: Resolving the Insurgency in Equatoria Crisis Group Africa Briefing No 169, 25 February 2021. By Dr Lam Akol The International Crisis Group Africa Briefing No. 169 deals with the continued fighting in some parts of Central Equatoria and the Western Equatoria States between the government and some armed groups, causing the continuation of the suffering our people are reeling under in Equatoria. However, the paper misdiagnoses the problem by portraying the (...) - Comment & Analysis

March 4, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, issued today a constitutional decree establishing a federal system of government in Sudan. The decision comes in line with the Constitutional Document that stipulated the establishment of the federal government in Sudan, and the Juba Peace Agreement which provides to divide the country into several regions instead of the current 18 states, after holding a conference on governance within 6 (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

March 4, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki will visit Khartoum this month to discuss ways to support the democratic transition in Sudan. The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission to Sudan Mohamed Belaiche on Thursday held a meeting with the member of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Ibrahim Jabir, to prepare for the visit. "The meeting dealt with studying the most effective ways to benefit from the capabilities of (...) - News

March 4, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan's Vice-President Taban Deng Gai, said he is seeking to suspend the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, citing exclusion from the national and state governments. Gai told a group of lawmakers allied to him he wrote to the regional bloc, IGAD, which mediated the 2018 pact requesting to suspend the ongoing implementation of the revitalized peace agreement until grievances raised by his group are addressed. In an open letter released to the (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

March 3, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and Uganda agreed to hold a meeting for the Nile basin countries to discuss how to benefit from the world's largest river. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sovereign Council of Sudan was Wednesday on a one-day visit to Entebbe to congratulate President Museveni for his victory in the recently held presidential elections “I wish to say congratulations to you, the people of Uganda and the entire region upon winning the recent elections. You are an (...) - News

March 3, 2021 (JUBA) The slow implementation of security arrangements and the armies unification process paved the way for the increase of violence in South Sudan, said David Shearer in his last briefing to the UN Security Council as the head of UNMISS on Wednesday. Shearer told the security council that the South Sudanese parties to the revitalized peace pact of 2018, until now did not achieve the unification of the armed forces despite multiple deadlines “Thousands of troops fester in (...) - News

March 3, 2021 (JUBA) - Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council and Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, SPLM-N leader discussed the resumption of peace talks in a surprising meeting held in Juba on Wednesday. Al-Burhan travelled Wednesday to the Ugandan capital for talks with President Yoweri Museveni on bilateral ties and Nile water and stopped in Juba where he met South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Also, he met with al-Hilu in presence of the South Sudanese Chief Mediator Tut Gatluak to (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Peace talks with SPLM-N, Darfur groups

March 3, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir has appointed former Labour and Public Service minister, Gathoth Gatkouth as Upper Nile State Minister for Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies. Kiir's executive order was read on the state-owned SSBC on Tuesday. Kiir appointed Gatkuoth in 2016 as the National Minister of labour and public service and later as governor of the defunct Latjor state before returning the country to 10 states after talks stalled with the (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

March 3, 2021 (EL-FASHER) - 10 people were killed and 32 others were injured on Wednesday as a result of tribal clashes in Saraf Omra locality in North Darfur state. The clashes erupted on Wednesday morning when the Fur tribe rejected a ceremony, at Saraf Omra municipality, celebrating the inauguration of the newly elected Sultan of the Tama tribe, saying that this African ethnic group has no land in the area which belongs to the Fur tribe. The Rapporteur of the State Security Committee, (...) - News / Darfur tribal clashes , FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY