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Moyo and Kajo-Keji residents urged to be patient

January 6, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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JUBA, South Sudan – The people of Moyo and Kajo-Keji County of Central Equatoria state have been told to remain patient as a lasting solution is being found leading to the demarcation of the contentious border areas.

This follows a ministerial meeting of the two ministers of internal affairs of Uganda and South Sudan together with officials from both countries convened at Crown Hotel in Juba.

Aronda Nyakairima, the minister of internal affairs of Uganda who led the Uganda delegation, said in 2009 that Kiir and Museveni met on the border and a decision was taken action on which the people of Moyo and Kajo-Keji are now asking.

Nyakairima appealed to the people to remain calm as a solution to the border row is going on by leadership of the two countries.

“As we wait, we must ensure that there is no provocation, escalation instead of de-escalation. We create an enabling environment for peaceful co-existence by keeping matters until a solution is got.”

“Up to now the people of Kajo-Keji and Moyo are still waiting and asking where is the decision, and we are telling them to be patient and they are asking how long are we going to be patient?” he said.

He said other people have become speculators especially now with the discovery of oil. “Everybody who looks at something say there is likely to be oil and I need to occupy this land because you never know.”

According to him, the development of minerals is a major industry, which makes people wanting to occupy areas add the attachment to the value of land to all of the people, has never been serious as it is now.

Nyakairima assured the people of both areas that work is going on and is to be executed by technical people–not the politicians.

“You hear elders saying that I know the border, do not waste my time. No, this is state-state border. Either it is determined at Berlin conference at midnight.”

On the conflict between the government and the SPLA opposition rebels, the minister said Uganda and the entire region is on the side of the search for peace and stability.

“You have a conflict going on. We are together in it to find a solution,” Nyakairima added.

He said that at the meeting at Crown Hotel in Uganda that they were having issues with trade, and said the ambassador would follow it up as Nyakarima called for removal of barriers to trade.

On immigration, he said the governments of Uganda and South Sudan were yet to harmonize immigration services.

South Sudan Interior Minister Aleu Ayeng Aleu said the demarcation is to be handled by a technical committee from both sides.
“We need patience and the people of Moyo and Kajo-Keji to go back to their traditional relations as same people.”

He also said there are several border issues and others with Kenya adding it is the work of the government to address warnings against taking the law into the hands of the local people, “It is important that there is cooperation.”

Speaking to the New Nation, Janga Duku, an MP from Kajo-Keji, said the meeting captured important areas that led to the conflict.

“The resolutions if implemented will pacify the area. The resolutions by Presidents Kiir and Museveni will be followed up if implemented or not.”

He said the two communities of Moyo and Kajo-Keji in selecting a committee of elders to sit and identify their ancestral land was important.

According to him, it is a positive resolution which bars eviction of people both South Sudanese and Ugandans regardless of the demarcation.

Resolutions reached in the meeting were revisiting the directives of the two presidents, provision of the report on the border clashes by the two IGPs, joint border patrols in the contentious issues, regular border meetings by elders from Moyo and Kajo-Keji and border demarcation to be effected.

The conflict between communities in Kajo-Keji County and Uganda’s Moyo district left almost 12,000 South Sudanese refugees displaced and forced to return to South Sudan.

By Moi Julius

400,000 out of school due to political crisis

January 6, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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JUBA – An estimated number of 400,000 are out of learning institutions in the country following the outbreak of last years’ political crisis.

The government and education partners working in the sector provided the figure following a joint stakeholders meeting held at the Juba Grand Hotel by Save the Children, UNICEF and the national Ministry of Education, DFID, USAID and EU.

The ministry and partners affirmed their commitment to providing quality education to all despite the current crisis.

Teachers in the rebel-controlled areas have not been able to get their monthly salaries as it is hard for the government to reach them due to insecurity.

“We cannot pay teachers in opposition controlled areas. It’s risky to me and whoever takes the money to the people supposed to be paid,” the undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Michael Lopuke, told reporters in Juba.

He said the low salaries for teachers have been the problem of the past and the present since teachers in South Sudan have been complaining.

Lopuke said the war has also set them back but expressed commitments to focus on the challenges of the teachers as they look into the problems faced by learners.

The undersecretary announced that seven of the ten national teachers training institutes in the country are operational.

According to him, Malakal has been merged with Ranbul in Juba and Rumbek with Maridi to continue teacher training.

Statistics from the government show that only 60 percent of the teachers in the country are trained and only 13 percent of the primary teachers are female.

He also said with the current crisis, a number of schools are without teachers and others are only being assisted by volunteers.

UNICEF country representative in South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch, called education a national crisis despite the fragile gains made since independence in attendance, curriculum development and girls education.

“In terms of education in the conflict areas, it has gone to zero,” the UNICEF chief in South Sudan remarked.

“The right to quality and relevant education is fundamental to the holistic well-being of children, their families and the future of their communities. Education must be made a priority in humanitarian response and this is what we want in South Sudan.”

He commended Western Equatoria for welcoming the internally displaced persons (IDPS) and refugees adding the number of learners in a single class room went up to 150.

“We have not been able to get children in the conflict affected states due to displacement, teachers, destroyed buildings.”

He called for the need to focus on getting children back to schools as according to him, education reduces the effects of trauma, conflict resolution, peace and tolerance among rival tribes.

Veitch pointed out that the government and the opposition has signed a recommitment not to recruit children into armed groups and not to occupy schools, as many were occupied when the crisis began not only by armed groups, but by IDPs.

The country representative added that it was not good to throw out IDPs in learning institutions, saying SPLA have identified some schools to vacate mentioning one in Bentiu, the capital of oil-rich Unity state.

Asked about the number of schools vacated by armed groups, he said that they have no evidence but have been receiving commitments to leave.

According to him, less than 100 schools in the country have been occupied by armed forces from both sides of the conflict.

Commenting on the payment of teachers, Save the Children CEO, Jasmine Whitebread, said there should be ways of addressing it as it is a responsibility of the Government.

She also said they are looking for donors to support them in the area of the payment of teachers.

The CEO added that education should be prioritized, especially in the conflict-affected areas. “One priority is education because it helps to keep children safe, secondly it is the way for children to have a future and of the country,” she said.

“Again and again, we find that children and families prioritize education even in crisis situations. They say that without education, there is no future and as humanitarian actors we must listen and respond to the priorities of affected population.”

Whitebread told the displaced that there are still ways for them to continue with education, “Education can be delivered even in emergency.”

In a new survey undertaken by Save the Children, children, parents and community leaders affected by the violence say education is a number one priority.

Education is key to helping children establish a sense of structure and normalcy during crises. It lowers their risk of being exposed to violence and exploitation as well as to early marriage, and allows them to develop healthy coping strategies, according to Save the Children.

In South Sudan, an adolescent girl is three times more likely to die during childbirth than complete the primary school cycle.

Only 1.6 percent of secondary school-going age are females are enrolled in secondary school and 35.4 percent are enrolled in primary school.

With only 1 in 3 school age children across the country currently enrolled in school, the Ministry of Education, Save the children and UNICEF affirmed their commitment.

Moi Peter Julius

Poultry farmers call for out-growers to satisfy customers in South Sudan

January 6, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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JUBA – A returnee poultry group called South Farmers is urging communities and individual farmers to become poultry out-growers to enable them meet peoples’ demands.

“Since we started processing our grown up broilers we have witnessed a shift from consumer taste demanding more of locally produced broiler chicken, deviating away from the imported frozen chicken this demand makes it difficult for us to meet the needs of our customers,” James Nyikole the manager of the group said.

“Therefore, we are reaching out and calling for the potential poultry farmers in and around Juba to join our out-grower scheme where they grow the broiler chicken for us at agreeable price and weight.”

According to Nyikole, “It means farmers will have to focus on production of broilers at the farms’ level and once the chicken have reach a particular weight which has to be agreed prior we will then buy the chicken for our processing facility and we can then supply the consumer market.”

He said it is the only way to reduce the imported frozen chicken dramatically and promote local production leading to the growth of the gross domestic products.

“No single country can grow by importing products but rather engaging on local production has a larger multiplier effect on the economy.”

Nyikole added that South Sudan is the only country in the region that imports frozen chicken.

The group leader mentioned countries in the region such as Uganda and Kenya do not allow imported frozen chicken into their countries because they are protective of their local and infant poultry sectors.

“We also urge the government to follow suit and offer the poultry sector level playing ground for the benefits of our farmers. The support of the government is very crucial in developing entrepreneurial spirit in this country,” said Nyikole.

He also called on the government to join them in sensitizing the population to encourage local production and increase duties on imported frozen chicken to offer level playing field.

In addition Nyikole appealed to the government to help remove custom duties on chicken feeds and other agricultural inputs so that these goods once imported are cheaper to the farmers and they would be encouraged in their efforts.

Recently, national government officials visited the facility which is located west of Juba.

The first was on the Oct. 5–the Minister of Defence and SPLA Affairs, Kuol Manyang.

Manyang was impressed to see the facility in the country and he offered his interest to lead by example by becoming a poultry farmer at his personal level.

He also said it is important for the government to incorporate poultry farming into the demobilization commission to assist demobilized men and women in uniform get engaged in income generation activities through poultry farms which have a shorter maturity.

“This is very interesting if our leaders can lead by example, it will encourage our people to get involved in farming to fight food insecurity,” said Auditor General Steven Wondu at the facility.

South Farmers is the production of One Day Old Chicks through their hatchery facility and in supply of feeds, and other poultry inputs, managing broiler farms and slaughtering facility.

Since the project started in April this year, they have seen a number of youth and women got involved in poultry farming and this has created direct employment.

“In addition local production of poultry by the citizens will also offer an opportunity to solve the problem of insecurity in the country and the fear in consumers mind that the imported frozen chicken have healthy concerns in human body and indeed these fears are real,” said Nyikole.

According to him, some of these imported chickens are grown on feed that came from genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), having lots of hormones to make them grower faster (3-4 weeks).

“No one knows when they were slaughtered, time in high seas and the time they arrive into South Sudan so the risk is greater on human health.”

He further said, “Now we have offered the alternatives for consumers in the country now to eat fresh chicken right from the farm. Either from our own farm or smallholder farmers themselves the offer them to the consumers,”

Moi Julius

Genome mapped for bowhead whale, which can live 200 years

January 26, 2021January 5, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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The complete genome for the bowhead whale has been mapped and the results have been presented by University of Liverpool researchers. The researchers expect that the research help build an understanding of “tricks of biology” that the species–which lives up to 200 years with low incidence of age-related diseases–have developed to increase their lifespans.

“My view is that species evolved different ‘tricks’ to have a longer lifespan, and by discovering the ‘tricks’ used by the bowhead we may be able to apply those findings to humans in order to fight age-related diseases,” Senior author Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães, of the University of Liverpool, in the UK, said of the research.

“Our understanding of species’ differences in longevity is very poor, and thus our findings provide novel candidate genes for future studies.”

The bowhead genome is the first to be sequenced among large whales. The researchers included in the presentation of their findings the identification of key genetic differences from other mammals, including genes related to cell division, DNA repair, cancer and aging.

The new genome map carries hope that physiological adaptations related to the whale’s massive size will become understood, such as the relatively low metabolic rate possessed by the large mammals. The team identified one particular gene–UCP1, which plays a role in thermoregulation–that they suspect may be important in this regard.

The researchers remarked that the bowhead not only lives long, but lives disease-free until an age much more advanced than that at which humans frequently begin to become burdened by illnesses.

Magalhaes also noted that large whales have over 1000 times the number of cells humans have, yet the large mammals do not seem to suffer from increased cancer risks associated with the massive amount of cells. Magalhaes suspects that this points to natural mechanisms possessed by the whales genes that more effectively suppress cancer.

Next for the team is a project to breed mice to express some of the standout bowhead genes. They hope to find genes for longevity and disease resistance.

The report, “Insights into the evolution of longevity from the bowhead whale genome,” was authored by Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães and was published in the journal Cell Reports.

Information on the research can also be found at the team’s genome resource webpage.

Elite bargainers refuse low offers more than regular bargainers and make more generous offers – study

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

Elite decisions less rational and self interested, offer more (2)

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In a first-of-its-kind study undertaken by University of California researchers, elite bargainers–those responsible for making today’s most important policy and business decisions–were examined to find out if they, like other people, reject low offers even when those offers involve benefits. The research is expected to offer increased understanding of some of the problems faced in global economic and environmental dialogues.

“Professionals, who had a lot of experience in high-stakes bargaining, played even further from the predictions of classic economic models. Concerns about fairness and equity aren’t expunged by experience, and persist in a group of very smart and successful professionals,” Dr. Brad LeVeck, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Merced, and lead author of the study, told The Speaker.

Elite bargainers refuse low offers more than regular bargainers, make higher - study — Dr. Brad LeVeck

“Most experiments in human behavior are conducted on convenience samples of university undergraduates. So, when experimental results go against the assumptions in classic models from economics, many researchers are skeptical about whether those results will translate to the real world,” LeVeck told us.

“Inexperienced students at a university might just be making mistakes that more experienced professionals would avoid. At least when it comes to bargaining, our study shows that this isn’t the case.”

LeVeck’s study used a unique sample of 102 US policy and business elites who had an average of 21 years of experience conducting international diplomacy or policy strategy.

The names of the participating elites were withheld in order to mitigate possible false behavior that could have resulted from concern about harm to their reputations.

When participants bargained over a fixed resource–in the study the samples played “ultimatum” bargaining games that involved the division of a fixed prize, but the researchers had global agreements on international trade, climate change, and other important problems in mind–the elites actually made higher demands and refused low offers (below 25 percent in the share of a prize) more frequently than non elite bargainers. But elite bargainers also offered more.

“In our study, it wasn’t just the case that elite policy makers rejected low offers more often than the general public,” LeVeck said. “It was also the case that they made more generous offers.

“So, to a certain extent, these individuals have the right intuition about how to conclude a successful bargain. This suggests that considerations of equity and fairness are already taken into consideration by real world policy makers.”

Elites with more experience and age were found to bargain for higher gains all around.

“Our best evidence indicates that this finding is related to their professional experience… This could be because policy makers accommodate the possibility that low offers will be rejected, and therefore also learn that it’s generally ok to reject low offers.”

The positions from which the most important policy and business decisions are made, the researchers concluded, are occupied by elites who have either changed towards high demand bargaining or have been selected by some process that favors this type of elite.

Why bargainers reject low offers and why elite bargainers play for higher stakes are questions that are still unanswered. Past research has given weight to arguments that bargaining actions are not due to motives such as fairness, equity, or toughness, but may have more to do with spite, culture and social learning.

“Our study wasn’t designed to disentangle these explanations,” LeVeck said. “So, it’s difficult to know whether the people who reject low offers are individuals that intrinsically care about fairness for everyone, or are simply individuals who spitefully reject low offers (but would take more for themselves if it were possible). In the later case, people would care about fairness for themselves, but not for everyone. I suspect both of these motivations exist and affect the behavior of different people.”

The researchers considered other motives for elite bargaining tactics, such as future opportunities, other bargaining partners and power relationships, but those did not play into the experiments.

“I do think these types of complex, real-world considerations shape professionals’ intuitions about how to bargain,” said LeVeck. “However, other parts of our study show that policy and business elites think carefully about strategic decisions. This makes it less likely that these individuals were misapplying a lesson from the real world when they played the bargaining game in our study.”

The researchers pointed out that the study encourages a reappraisal of aspects of international cooperation, such as bargaining with regards to trade, climate and other world issues.

“Analysts and researchers are understandably skeptical when leaders complain that an agreement is unfair. It’s very plausible that the complaint is just ‘cheap-talk’: When pressed, those leaders should actually accept any agreement that is inline with their self-interest.

“By contrast, our findings raises the possibility that these complaints are more than cheap talk. Policy and business elites have some willingness to reject inequitable offers.

“So, when formulating proposals on issues like global emissions reductions or trade policy, leaders should pay attention to whether the other side will reasonably regard the deal as fair.”

The report, “The role of self-interest in elite bargaining,” was completed by Brad L. LeVeck, D. Alex Hughes, James H. Fowler, Emilie Hafner-Burton, and David G. Victor, and was published on the PNAS website.

By Sid Douglas

Retrial of a misjudged case 19 years after the man’s execution in China

January 3, 2015 by Joel Levi

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The fourth plenary session of the 14^th central committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) that took place between Oct. 20-23, 2014, has paved the path for a series of retrials of former misjudged cases, including the case of Huge Jiletu. Huge was sentenced to death and immediately executed after a violent inquisition process in 1996. The sentence came only 62 days after the rape and murder incident, of which, as it turned out, Huge was falsely accused. On Dec. 15, 2014, 18 years after Huge’s execution, he was acquitted by the Supreme People’s Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The main theme of the fourth plenary session is the “rule of law.” President Xi Jiping’s anti-corruption campaign targeting major CPC officials has been the topic of discussion on international media, official and social media in China, and at the dinner table of ordinary Chinese people for the past two years. The newly promoted strategy and doctrine, the “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics,” appears to be a natural step forward to a further systematized rule of the CPC dominated government. But the meanings of the official report lie deep beneath the surface of the centrality of administration by law, and demands deciphering. Among many clues, a most telling one might be that the promoted “rule of law” still falls under the leadership of CPC. The report utilizes a rhetoric that separates the communist party and the CPC leading government by stating that the leadership of CPC remains above the Law, and yet, the government should be law-abiding.

The fourth plenary session, however, has brought misjudged legal cases in the past into the daylight. Huge’s case, for instance, had the chance to surface and be given a retrial on the Supreme Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the province where the case was first tried. Unlike 18 years ago when the case was closed with the conviction of Huge without sufficient evidence, this time Huge was finally given his long deserved exoneration. The change of the original sentence was based on the incompatibility of the confessed means of crime and the autopsy report, the lack of exclusivity based upon the results of the blood test, and finally, the inconsistency of Huge’s confessions on different occasions.

Notably, a man named Zhao Zhihong was arrested for rape and murder in 2005, and at the time had already confessed to be the true offender in the 1998 rape case. But the demand from Huge’s parents for a retrial of their son’s case, for reasons unknown never reached the Supreme Court. It forced Huge’s parents to continue appealing to higher authorities for the unsealing of the case. The case, however, remained sealed until the fourth plenary session of the CPC, and all of a sudden, at the new sweeping campaign of the “rule of law,” fell in the spotlight of legal debates.

Eighteen years ago, Huge and his friend found a naked woman’s body in a public restroom. They reported to the local police, and the 18-year-old Huge was immediately arrested by the police as a suspect in the crime. The case was tried in a rushed manner. Within a short period of only 62 days, Huge was sentenced to death and was immediately executed. The reason for such a hasty trial had much to do with the political campaign of the Chinese government at the time—local governments were told to crack down on criminal cases. The predecessor of the campaign was initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1983, with its slogan being “quicker and stricter.” The direct outcome of such campaigns was careless and heavy sentences in the short run, and disparity between laws for the campaign and the “normal laws” in the long run.

This kind of political campaign bears similarities with the “War on Drugs” in the 1970s and 80s in the United States. What often happens is the appearance of stricter administration, plus a higher efficiency in resolving crimes, obscuring the reality of “quick,” “rigid” and often times unfair judgment. But does a society eliminate crimes with harsher, hastier punishment? Or does it create space for governance that is casual and authoritative?

Moreover, the appeasing effect of a stricter administration comes from the public’s fear of disorder in the society. In both the case of China in 1983 and 1996 and the United States in the 1970s and 80s, the rise of crimes on the street coincided with the rise of unemployment rates of certain communities and the polarity of wealth in the society. Since the 1980s China has been in a process of radical urbanization, which created a large number of migrating workers in the city. These workers from the countryside became the most easily discriminated population by law and by social welfare, and many of them turned to other means of making money when the option of selling cheap labor became unavailable. The cracking down on crime not only did not help in alleviating the actual social problems, but it aggravated the inequality between poor and rich communities by covering it up.

Huge’s case also sheds light on the question of the death penalty in China. To what extent is a government justified in the kind of violence that it itself criminalizes? It is not just a question of politics and governance, but also of the irreversibility of the act of killing: when a person is put to death, a retrial retrieves only justice, but not the life that is already lost.

Analysis by Joel Levi

For an English translation of the official report of the fourth plenary session of the 14^th central committee of the CPC:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/news/2014-10/24/content_18795510.htm

Other sources:
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-12-31/134931348804.shtml
http://www.nmg.xinhuanet.com/xwzx/2014-12/15/c_1113639596.htm

Tanzanian youth group “Rat Road” storm areas in capital

January 26, 2021January 2, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Violence broke out in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last night as members of the violent youth community called Rat Road–“Panya Road” in the local Swahili–stormed areas around Sinza, Mwananyamala, Kinondoni, Ubungo and Makumbusho. Group members robbed shops and created havoc among the citizenry.

Tanzanian Police Commander Suleiman Kova made statements on the attacks through TBC1 news, saying that two of Rat Road members have already been arrested and the operation continues to apprehend the others.

“We the police have received information about where to find the others–that the young men known as the Rat Road are scattered over many parts…” Kova stated.

“These are young people who do not work. They do not have good values. First think about the seriousness of the problem, how the general information is greater than the weight of the event itself. I want to tell you people to continue your regular activities.”

Police are currently on patrol for Rat road members, assuring citizens that it was impossible for Rat Road to gain any ground in Dar es Salaam, because it was “impossible for Rat Road to be stronger than the army or police.”

News tip: Siligiye Nyax

Kiir urged to defer conduct of 2015 general elections

January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Moi Julius

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JUBA – The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) is highly concerned with the announcement that the South Sudanese national general elections will be held in May 2015–an announcement made by by the National Elections Commission (NEC) Friday.

Holding national elections while some parts of the country are in situations of significant violence is totaling unacceptable. This demonstrates that NEC is working for undemocratic national elections.

Edmund Yakani, executive director of CEPO said that the credibility of the electoral process is determined by having peaceful electoral proceeding. Secondly, having national elections without a population census, genuine constituencies’ demarcation and peaceful electoral campaigns, will result in elections without any credibility.

“CEPO is calling upon the leadership of President Salva Kiir to move forward the national general elections after peace is attained in the country, rather than conducting them in May 2015.”

He said CEPO acknowledged that the Transitional National Constitution of South Sudan of 2011 call for elections to be conducted in 2015 before the expiration of the current government mandate, which will be on July 9, 2015.

“The current situation that electorates and aspirants are facing in the country cannot allow them to participate in the election process freely,” Yakani stated.

Additionally, Yakani said the ongoing violence in the country could create an atmosphere of violent elections, intimidation and harassment during the election process of political campaigns and voting.

Opposition political parties will have to take legal measures to compel the government from holding the 2015 general elections as the conditions will not allow for a free and fair vote, according to Dr. Lam Akol, the leader of SPLM-DC.

The minority leader from SPLM-DC in the national legislative assembly, Onyoti Adigo, attacked the government’s demand for elections in 2015, saying it was unacceptable.

Yakani added that CEPO strongly believes that the current context of violence in some parts of the country–if national elections are held, the possibility of the politicians that will not win the elections joining the strategy of waging war against Juba is high since we have witnessed this practice in the April 2010 national general elections.

“Therefore CEPO is calling for the deferral of the declared South Sudan national elections, May, 2014, to be held after peace is achieved in South Sudan by the warring parties under the IGAD-led mediation in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.”

CEPO is an organization engaged in the areas of peace, conflict mitigation, human rights, and rule of law, livelihood, governance and democratic transformation. It is neutral, non-partisan, non-religious, non-race entity. CEPO is based on the principle of community empowerment and inclusive participation. Its core values are commitment, accountability and transparency (CAT).

By Moi Julius

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EU calls for peace to allow delivery of services in South Sudan

January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Moi Julius

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JUBA – The European Union (EU) has urged South Sudan’s warring parties to attain a peaceful settlement to the 12-month conflict so that the delivery of services to the population will be easier to accomplish.

The EU’s head of the delegation to South Sudan, Stefano De Leo, made the call while speaking during a national health consensus workshop organized by the ministry of health and World Health Organization held in Dembesh hotel in Juba.

“Peace is a better ground for stability. We want to see stakeholders coming together and we hope peace will come,” he told the participants at the workshop.

He said the EU supports the people of South Sudan in the health sector through a contribution of 11 million Euros to the health fund pool, together with other donor countries.

Stefano further said the fund finances health activities in the various states of the country to health build viable health services.

The EU head added that they also rely on the central and the state governments to allow medicine delivered to the grassroots in a timely fashion.

According to him, health, education is what contributes to the well being of the people of the country and needs to be checked.

World Health Organization country representative, Dr. Abdi Aden, said the strategic importance of strengthening health systems is absolute and that the Ministry of Health can count on the WHO for technical support.

He said the world has never possessed capabilities for curing disease and prolonged life as it does today, “Yet most health outcomes in most developing countries including ours are among the worst in the world.”

Aden said much of the ill health, disease, premature death and suffering that persists in South Sudan is needless, as effective and affordable interventions are available for prevention and treatment.

“The reality is straightforward. The health systems are too weak to deliver the interventions to those in greatest need in a comprehensive way and on an adequate scale.”

The country WHO representative said health systems that function well have shared characteristics as procurement and distribution systems that deliver interventions to those in need and staffing with sufficient health workers having skills and motivation.

Additionally, they operate with financing systems that are sustainable, inclusive and fair, and the costs of health care should not force impoverished households even deeper into poverty.

He added that the discussion on the draft national policy should set the stage for development of the health sector strategic plan, policy implementation guidelines, better alignment of structures among others goals for improved health system and effectiveness.

National Health Minister Dr. Riek Gai hailed the draft policy which he said will provide direction for the ministry and investment partners.

Gai said before the independence of South Sudan, the then government of Southern Sudan did not have a national policy of its own, calling the draft the first ever policy.

Sanctions

The European parliament last November expressed its regret over the ineffectiveness of the targeted sanctions imposed by the EU and called for the targeted sanctions imposition by IGAD, AU and the international community.

Stefano urged the warring parties–both the rebels and government–to give peace a chance.

Asked about sanctions to be imposed on those blocking peace, Australian ambassador to South Sudan Geoff Tooth said, “We want to do everything to help the peace process to reach a conclusion very quickly and fully support all those involved so that it is sustainable and long lasting.”

“Sanctions are something used elsewhere in the world. We do not have a position on that [with regards to South Sudan] and there is no consideration now by Australia.” he said.

By Peter Moi Julius

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European Union – EEAS (European External Action Service) | EU imposes sanctions on South Sudanese military leaders

South Sudan Interior Ministry to campaign against internal trade in military uniforms

January 2, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Juba – The Ministry of Interior is to campaign against the trade in the uniforms of military and other organized forces in the country, Aleu Ayeng Aleu of the Interior Ministry told Parliament prior to its recess Friday.

Aleu’s statements follow urgent information raised by Joseph Ngere, MP from Western Equatoria, who said some companies have advertised the items on the local media.

According to the advert, Ngere said, “We are making all types of uniforms for police, military and national security.”

He said, “This is an issue of sovereignty and national security. If these people are producing military garments and we have the menace of seeing military garments all over the town and in the country. Who is doing this without control and do we not know who has given them the responsibility to produce these?” Ngere asked.

Ngere added that these traders will expose the parade of the national army in the country if any contract is signed with the traders.

The minister said this is an issue which is a problem in the country though he was not aware but further said it is not only in Kololo but in Jebel one can find all kinds of uniforms being sold.

“Even a regular person sewing in Buluk hangs these up for everybody to buy. We are fighting this.”

Aleu added that it is the source of crimes as people with illicit guns buy these uniforms and use them at night, pretending to be members of the police or national security.

“We have clashed with many of them but sometimes they go unnoticed. I even came across some of them at 11 p.m. while for a dinner in Davinci with the German ambassador.”

According to Aleu, a group of people who were seven in number stopped cars claiming that a driver had knocked a person out near the University of Juba and ran away.

In an earlier interview with the New Nation in 2013, police spokesperson Col. James Monday said they had arrested some members of the organized forces for committing crimes and being prosecuted.

He also said criminals acquire uniforms to use them at night for committing crimes as they pretend to be police officers.

The minister further said the police officers who patrol at night bear labels which allow them to be identified easily.

By Moi Peter Julius

Women in South Sudan urged to speak out against GBV

January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

Mundari women dancing during the Xmas in one of the outskirts of Juba

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Juba – South Sudanese women have been told to expose Gender Based Violence (GBV) by reporting cases to the public, especially law enforcement agencies and community leaders.

The call was made during the launch of a social norms marketing campaign by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) at Nyokuron Cultural Centre, attended by civil society organizations, women, and national and state government officials.

Gender based violence is considered a serious crime which according to Moses Majok, a police officer with the national police service, is against the rights of women.

“It breads conflicts in homes. The South Sudan National Police Service will try its best to aggressively respond to GBV and child trafficking, to bring equal rights to all.”

He announced the establishment of a special unit at the national police service and encouraged women not to suffer in silence but report abuses to the unit for prosecutions to take place.

Majok also called for communities to shun certain harmful traditional practices like the early child marriages common in most societies, as well as female genital mutilation (FGM).

Most communities in South Sudan tend to marry off their younger daughters to wealthy people regardless of their approval.

Almost half of all South Sudanese women and girls between ages 15 and 19 are married, some as young as age 12, according to Human Rights Watch in 2014.

Many families in South Sudan see child marriage as a means of accessing cattle, money, and other gifts by transferring wealth through the traditional payment of dowries.

Considered by the UN and others to be an egregious violation of women and girls’ human rights, child marriage in South Sudan is held to exacerbate the country’s high levels of poverty, low levels of literacy, pronounced gender gaps in education, and soaring rates of maternal mortality—currently among the highest in the world.

The director general of gender and child welfare at the National Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Regina Ossa Lullo, said the days of activism against GBV in the country should continue beyond those globally set aside.

She said that the women who make up 49 percent of the population of the country are marginalized in their social and economic situation and are unable to contribute to socio-economic development of South Sudan.

Ossa told women not to give up but to fight for their rights, calling for the eradication of social injustices suffered by women.

“No woman should give up fighting for her rights. We must do more to combat violence, brutality against women wherever and whenever it occurs,” said Ossa.

According to her, one in three women nationwide experiences violence in her life. “Violence knows no religion. Family, community and the entire country suffers. Preventing, showing respect and responsibility is the only way for peace and prosperity.”

She said the ministry is developing a standard operating procedure which is still in draft form, and once passed it will be rolled out to the states in order to mitigate GBV.

Ossa added that prevention of violence against women requires an integrated approach by all in the society, including government institutions.

The director cited an example of a young girl of 14 who was sent to a shop at 8 p.m. by her parents and was brutally raped by an adult and three young men.

She added that especially during the war time women experience physical violence which she said amounts to violation of human rights, stating, “Sexual violence will not be tolerated now and forever.”

IRC Women’s Empowerment and Protection Senior Manager Pamela Tuiyott said the campaign targets the police, elders, and aims for survivors of violence to speak up.

Tuiyott also said the campaign targets behavioral and social change in communities and is aimed at ending violence against women.

By Moi Julius

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Child Marriage

Scientists discover new method of cell division that allows cells to correct for larger and smaller birth sizes within a few generations

January 26, 2021January 1, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Light has been shed on the longstanding question of how cells regulate size and how they know when to divide. According to recent research at UC San Diego, some cells–billions of years divergent from each other–use a unique, robust and simple method that had not been observed by scientists. The research has ruled out both of the prevailing theories of cell division–the so-called “timer” and “sizer” theories. Instead, evidence points towards an “adder” paradigm that corrects for differences in birth size through reproduction.

“Our experimental data and analysis of growth of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis shows neither timer nor sizer are correct models,” Dr. Sattar Taheri, postdoctoral fellow in the Jun Lab in the Physics Department of the University of California, San Diego and first author of the report, told The Speaker. “Instead, cells ‘add’ a constant mass in since birth until division. That is, irrespective of the cell size at birth, cell grow by a constant size and then divide. This strategy automatically ensures that cell of larger/smaller than average size, correct their size within several generation.”

The new “adder” paradigm is a simple mathematical principle. Further mathematical model developed by the researchers helped understand fluctuations and distributions of cells’ growth parameters.

Time and size do not even factor into growth and division for “perfect adders.”

Taheri explained the problem approached by the research.

“In their life cycle, bacteria grow in size until they divide into two daughter cells. Scientists knew that cells have a ‘strategy’ to control their size–or, in other words, when to divide–but we did not know what that strategy is.

“In fact, this has been one of the long standing problems in biology.”

The research was conducted with a device that allowed the team to isolate individual genetic materials and observe the E. coli and B subtilus over hundreds of generations and under various conditions. Samples about a thousand times better than previous samples were derived from this process.

“Without a powerful technology to precisely acquire data on growth of live cells, people could only suggest theories. ‘Timer’ and ‘sizers’ were two major ideas. Based on the timer model, cells have a clock. The clock start when cells are born, and once a constant period of time passes, division is triggered–irrespective of the cell size. The sizer model suggests that growing cells divide once they reach a critical size. This requires cells continuously monitor their size.

The research, as Taheri stated, found that the previously posed models could not explain growth and division. Instead, a surprising new concept emerged: the “adder” paradigm that applied to most of the bacteria the team has so far studied–as well as the data coming out of other labs.

However, the solution is only a part of a greater picture. Taheri noted that cell division was much more complex than a single theory could explain.

In particular, higher organisms “care more” about size, and add more mass before dividing if they are born smaller. That said, those cells also reach target size in the same way that perfect adders do, according to the researchers.

“Note that this adder principle is not the only possible strategy to maintain size homeostasis. It was unexpected to find this, specially in both E. coli and B. subtilis–that are billion years apart in evolution. It’s a unique way. Robust and simple. However, some other higher organisms, including yeast, seems to use other strategies.”

The two reports that resulted from the research, “Cell-size maintenance: universal strategy revealed” and “‘Cell-size control and homeostasis in bacteria” were completed by Suckjoon Jun, Massimo Vergassola and Sattar Taheri-Araghi, and were published in the journal Current Biology. Both papers will be available at the Jun Lab webpage.