Category: Top Stories

June 21, 2010 (Juba) — The President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), Salva Kiir, has appointed his new cabinet. Names of those who have been appointed in the new government are as follows:

1. Mr. Kosti Manibe Ngai – Minister of Cabinet Affairs

2. Mr. Pagan Amum – Minister of Peace and CPA Implementation

3. Mr. Nhial Deng Nhial – Minister of SPLA and Veteran Affairs

4. Mr. Deng Alor – Minister of Regional Cooperation

5. Dr. Cirino Hitend Ofuho – Minister in the Office of the President

6. Mr. John Luyk Jok – Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development

7. Mr. Gier Chuon Aluong – Minister of Internal Affairs

8. Mr. Michael Makuei Lueth – Minister of Parliamentary Affairs

9. Mr. David Deng Athorbei – Minister of Finance and Economic Planning

10. Gen. Oyay Deng Ajak – Minister for Investment

11. Mrs. Awut Deng Acuil – Minister of Labour and Public Service

12. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin – Minister of Information

13. Dr. Luka Tombekana Manoja – Minister of Health

14. Dr. Samson Lukare Kwaje – Minister of Agriculture and Forestry

June 18, 2010 (Khartoum) — The Governors of oil rich States, Taban Deng Gai and Ahmed Haroun, have met with representatives of oil companies to tackle some security issues in the exploring areas. “The Governor of South Kordufan state, Ahmed Haroun, and his Unity State Counterpart, Gen. Taban Deng, have agreed during a meeting with…

June 16, 2010 (Khartoum) — South Sudan’s army said on Wednesday 10 members of a renegade militia and three soldiers were killed in a gunbattle in the region’s Jonglei oil state.

A 35-strong search team came across George Athor’s rebels on Tuesday, a day after it had flushed him out of a hideout, according to the southern army (SPLA).

Athor launched a rebellion after failing to win Jonglei’s governorship in an April election, accusing the south’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of rigging the vote. Last month Athor said he was coordinating attacks with two other militia leaders in Jonglei and neighbouring Unity state, raising fears for regional stability in the run-up to a potentially explosive secession referendum due in January 2011.

There have been reports of scattered attacks but they have not coalesced into a large uprising.

"The reconnaissance platoon found his new place suddenly and there was an exchange of fire near Dier village in Khorfulus County," SPLA spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said.

"From the SPLA side, three were killed and eight wounded and from Athor’s side 10 killed."

Athor did not answer calls on Wednesday.

Earlier Kuol said SPLA troops attacked Athor’s forces in the village of Wunlam on Monday night, after they were led to the hideout, also in Khorfulus County, by one of Athor’s men captured in an earlier fight.

"He is running with less than 30 soldiers. They are his close relatives from the village … Our forces are now pursuing him. We expect his capture within days," said Kuol, adding the SPLA captured 13 of Athor’s men and radio equipment on Monday.

Last week the SPLA said it chased militia commander Galwak Gai out of his base in Unity state, which includes oilfields operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium led by China’s CNPC. French group Total holds a largely unexplored oil concession in Jonglei.

South Sudan, the source of most of Sudan’s oil, secured a referendum on whether to split off as a separate country in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north.

By Khaled Abdelaziz June 14, 2010 (Khartoum) — Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday named his new coalition government, appointing Southerner Lual Acuek Deng to the new post of oil minister, according to a presidential order seen by Reuters. It is likely to be Sudan’s last government ahead of a secession referendum due in…

June 12, 2010 (Khartoum) — South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir reappointed his deputy, state media said on Saturday, in his first step to forming a new government to take the underdeveloped region to a 2011 independence referendum. Sudan’s oil-producing south secured its own semi-autonomous government, and the referendum on whether it should split off as…

June 6, 2010 (Khartoum) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir on Saturday warned of an "explosive" situation between north and south Sudan if the south chooses to break away in a referendum next year. "Parts of the border could be explosive… like in the case of Ethiopia and Eritrea, or even India and Pakistan," Bashir said…

March 9, 2010 (Malakal) — The ruling party of Southern Sudan is planning to suspend salaries of independent Candidates who are running for seats without the SPLM’s seal of approval.  Reliable source confirmed that the plan has been secretly debated by some top party officials who felt the former party members have abandoned them in…

February 18, 2010 (Mekele) — The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) said its 35th founding anniversary is being celebrated in the aftermath of remarkable achievements registered in all development sectors. In a statement it issued here on Wednesday in connection with its 35th founding anniversary, TPLF Central Committee said tangible change is being registered in…

Date: 5/2/2010 His Justice President of the Objections Circuit In Relation to the General Elections, The National Supreme Court, Khartoum.   Subject: Objection to the Decision of the National Elections Commission Accepting the Nomination of General Salva Kiir Mayardit for the office of the President of the Government of Southern Sudan   February 11, 2010…

To: The National Elections Commission

Subject: Request to strike off the name of General Salva Kiir Mayardit from the list of candidates for the position of President of the Government of Southern Sudan

(On the strength of Article 45(1) of the National Elections Act 2008 and Article 10(2) of the General Regulations for Elections 2009)

February 11, 2010 (Khartoum) — General Salva Kiir Mayardit holds a military rank (General) and is still active in the SPLA and hence he is not qualified in accordance with Article 12(2)(a) of the Political Parties Act 2007 to seek election without resignation from the army. That the SPLA is an organized force is affirmed by Article 144(1) of the Interim Constitution of the Republic of Sudan 2005.

Facts of the Case

1. In July 2005, the SPLA’s officers ranks (Lt to Commander) were changed to the conventional ranking system (Lt to Field Marshall). Members of the Leadership Council, including Cdr Salva Kiir Mayardit were absorbed into the rank of Major General and simultaneously retired as Lt General.

2. When the reconstituted Leadership Council met in August to choose a successor to the late Dr John Garang, Mr. Salva Kiir was endorsed as the Chairman of the SPLM and reinstated in the SPLA as Lt General. I was present in that meeting.

3. Since then he has been exercising powers in that capacity. A sample of orders he signed as Lt General in the SPLA is attached.

4. Some time in 2006 he promoted himself to the rank of full General (or First Lt General, as is erroneously referred to). He put on the uniform with that rank. The photos attached testify to this fact.

5. He continued to exercise his powers as General in the SPLA. A few examples will suffice. He heads the recently formed military Command Council, composed of more than 40 senior SPLA officers. In his capacity as a General, he has been graduating SPLA soldiers in uniform (see the accompanying recording).

6. He has an office in the SPLA HQ in Juba. No Commander-in-Chief who is not in active military service can have an office in the military HQ.

7. The claim that he was retired on 17 July 2005 is belied by the above facts and later statements made by two senior members of the SPLM in January 2010. On the 13^th of January, Dr Luka Biong Deng, Minister of Presidential Affairs in the Government of Southern Sudan, a close aide to the President, ruled out the possibility of General Salva Kiir stepping down from the army for nomination in the elections (see Sudan Tribune, January 17, 2010, attached). He further said that presently the SPLA Act states that no member of the SPLA can participate in political activities but said there will be decisions made within the regulations of southern Sudan (see Sudan Tribune, January 14, 2010, attached). This statement clearly means that Salva Kiir is indeed in active military service as SPLA General. Also, Mr. Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of the SPLM, held a press conference in Khartoum on 20/1/2010 in which he declared that “President Salva Kiir will resign from the SPLA.” (The Intibaha daily newspaper dated 21/1/2010, attached).

8. These two statements from people very senior in the SPLM and close to General Salva Kiir confirm that he is still in active service in the SPLA.

9. By practice, General Salva Kiir has been active in the SPLA since he was reinstated in 2005 as evidenced by the above facts.

Conclusion

General Salva Kiir Mayardit is still in active service as an officer in the SPLA. Since the SPLA is an organized national force in accordance with Article 144(1) of the Interim Constitution of the Republic of Sudan 2005, General Salva Kiir cannot be eligible to run for the elections while still holding his military position in accordance with Article 12(2)(a) of the Political Parties Act 2007. His name has to be struck off the nomination list of candidates running for the office of the President of the Government of Southern Sudan.

Thanks.