The Speaker News Journal

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

Link

Fox

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

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

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

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

Link

Child Marriage

With green space losing out to several large public infrastructure projects, local residents are worried about the future of Ho Chi Minh City’s urban environment. Michael Tatarski looks into one group’s conservation efforts and asks whether the city can develop without giving in to environmental tradeoffs.

When news broke in November that the city would clear 84 mahogany trees from Ton Duc Thang Street to make way for construction of another bridge from District 1 to the Thu Thiem area across the Saigon River in District 2, Nguyen Phuong Thao felt she could no longer stand by. “Someone needed to speak up, and I decided I would be the first to do it,” she says through a translator.

The announcement came on the heels of another story that 200 trees would also be felled in District 2, while part of Le Loi and all of Nguyen Hue, two major downtown thoroughfares, had already been denuded for work on a pedestrian boulevard and the metro system. According to Thao, who owns a coffee shop and works for a company that builds brands, many residents felt depressed by the news because they couldn’t do anything, as the plans were already approved when they were released to the public. In response she created a website, HappyTreeInSaigon.com, to give voice to those concerned by the removal of so much green space.

“The purpose of the website was to collect signatures and send them to the agencies and organisations [in charge of the bridge and other projects] so the government will know about the expectations of the citizens and consider more carefully before they conduct something that may harm the environment,” Thao says.

So far, Thao and her team have collected around 3,000 signatures, about half of which are from students. “The final purpose is to get the attention of people who have authority because I don’t want to do this alone,” she says. “I want someone who actually has power and can make an impact.”

Happy Tree in Saigon, the group born from the website, made headlines late last year when members gathered on Ton Duc Thang and held banners explaining the importance of the doomed trees. However, the group does not plan any repeat actions, since the police were concerned about traffic jams related to the group’s presence. “We will focus more on digital media and when we have enough funds we will focus on one spot, like having an event in one place, not on the street,” Thao stresses.

When it comes to funding, Thao is hopeful that NGOs working on environmental projects in Saigon will be willing to provide monetary support to her conservation efforts. If money comes through, Thao aims to create an education campaign centred on the environment. “Youths do not fully understand the environment … I want them to learn how to protect it in the correct way,” she explains.

Dr Michael Waibel, a professor in the Department of Human Geography at the University of Hamburg who has studied Vietnam since 1996, agrees that Saigon has a green space problem. According to statistics from the HCMC Park and Greenery Office, the city has just 0.8 square metres of green space per capita. This puts the city well below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of a minimum eight square metres per capita. However, Waibel’s main concern is inequality in access to green space. “People in District 7 or on the outskirts have much better access,” he says. “The biggest problem is with the densely-populated inner city. It’s a socioeconomic question.”

He views the current situation with the trees in a more utilitarian way. “Regarding the trees on Le Loi, in this case it’s a tradeoff. You need a public transportation system to decrease individual traffic, so you make something that is good for sustainability but you have to cut the trees,” Waibel says from Hamburg. He is also positive about the future of green space in the city, something which may hearten Thao and the other members of Happy Tree in Saigon.

“One thing you can say is that the trees grow incredibly fast in Saigon,” the urban planner says. “Look at Phu My Hung [a new urban area south of the city], where the trees have become huge in just ten years.” If trees are replanted once the projects are completed, he reckons, the streets could look nearly normal in just a decade or two. The city government has also set a target of raising the provision of green space to four or five square metres per capita in the future.

However, these initiatives can’t come solely from authorities. “The people themselves have to realize and fight for more green space in their neighbourhoods,” Waibel says. He points to the verdant hems, or alleys, of the city, often full of potted plants and flowers. “This kind of bottom-up initiative to expand green space should be supported and people should be educated that they have their own responsibility,” he continues.

Thao understands this responsibility and hopes Happy Tree in Saigon can link decision-makers and the general public. “What we are perceiving wrong is that we develop our country first and protect the environment later,” she says.

The group plans to connect the people who work with trees and the environment with the architecture firms and urban planners who are building the future Saigon to get them to work as a team. “At the moment they work separately, and by bringing them together they can make a complete plan to build while preserving the environment.”

By Michael Tatarski

Thousands of Russians assembled for an unlawful protest in Moscow Tuesday night, shouting slogans such as, “Putin is a thief!” “Crimea is not ours!” and “No Putin, no war!” Hundreds were arrested.

Other chants included sentiments of solidarity with Ukrainians: “Russians! Ukrainians! Brothers forever!” “Putin is Russia’s shame!” “Russia doesn’t trust Putin!” besides the more topical, “Freedom for Navanly!”

The protest was organized around the abrupt sentencing of Russian opposition leader and blogger Alexei Navalry and his brother Oleg Navalny. Alexei Navalny has been for several years one of the most outspoken of Putin’s critics. He and his brother were charged with defrauding a French chocolate company for $520,000.

The sentence was expected to be handed down Jan. 15, but it was suddenly moved forward to Dec. 30, the date of one of the biggest holidays in Russia and the first of the Russian New Years holiday that lasts until Jan. 8.

Read more: Navalny given surprisingly light sentence, attempts to attend protest of conviction, rearrested

Also unexpectedly, Navalny received only a suspended sentence instead of the up to 10 years many expected. His brother received 3 years prison for the same charge. Both men were also fined 4.4 million rubles.

Alexei Navalny, however, was arrested hours later for attempting to make his way to Tuesday night’s protest.

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Kremlin at Manezh Square to demonstrate against the trial. Rock band Pussy Riot had released a video early Tuesday urging participation at the protest, and approximately 18,000 people indicated they would attend via a Facebook page.

 

Among those arrested were Aider Muzhdabaev, deputy editor in chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets and journalist Alexander Kolyandr, who was detained for reasons that have not yet been reported. 

Read more: Russians Are Protesting the War in Ukraine, and Are Being Arrested by Russian Police [with video]

Around 70 of those arrested were still being held as of Wednesday.

Protesters in Russia can be arrested if the assembly has not been authorized by the Russian government beforehand, although the Russian constitution guarantees, “Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets.” (Art. 31.) In 2012, the Russian government stiffened penalties for protesters by raising fines for illegal protesters and criminalizing the use of masks, weapons or objects that may be used as weapons, and the organization of protests by citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes.

By James Haleavy

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Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was expected to receive a stiff sentence of up to 10 years for charges of fraud–charges widely believed to be a veil for the Russian government’s suspected interest in silencing the outspoken critic–but a surprising verdict saw Navalny walk out of court Tuesday with a suspended sentence, hours before his rearrest for breaking house arrest to attend a protest in Moscow’s Manezh Square.

Navalny was expected to receive 10 years in a penal colony. The prosecutor asked 9 years, but in other recent cases, such as Kirovoles, they added another year.

However, and to the surprise of many, he received a suspended sentence, while his brother Oleg Navalny received three and a half years for the same offense.

Navalny attempted to attend a protest at Manezh Square, located directly in front of the Kremlin, and was arrested by Russian police while en route for breaking the conditions of his house arrest sentence.

Thousands of protesters attended the protest to voice their opposition to the trials of the Navalnys and the Russian war in Ukraine.

Over 100 protesters were arrested at the demonstration. Because the protest was not authorized by the Russian government, all participants committed crimes by attending.

Navalny has been under house arrest since February since he was charged with defrauding French cosmetics firm Yves Rocher with his brother. The men were found guilty of stealing approximately $520,000.

Navalny has been known to the Kremlin since at least 2011 when he was among the leaders of strong protests in Moscow.

The verdict for the sentence was expected to be handed down Jan. 15, 2015, but was brought forward abruptly to Dec. 30, the main Russian New Years holiday. The Russian New Year break begins Dec. 30 and ends Jan. 8. Commenters noted that the date may have been an attempt to avoid or mitigate large-scale protests.

By James Haleavy

 

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Last week Navalny delivered his final speech in court–a form of address called in Russia a “last word,” in which he referenced exiled writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In the speech, Navalny reiterated Solzhenitsyn’s phrase, “Live not by lies.”

The 1974 essay was published on the day Solzhenitsyn was arrested by Soviet secret police for treason, and ended, “DON’T LIE! DON’T PARTICIPATE IN LIES! DON’T SUPPORT A LIE!” [sic].

In the essay, Solzhenitsyn argued that the Soviet system was held together by a vital lie, which had become a mode of existence in the land.

Navalny addressed his echo of Solzhenitsyn’s words to the Russian public who participate in the current system of lies–those, Navlny said, who looked into the table rather than eye to eye.

Prosecution may also be directed at other activists associated with Navalny. An investigation into the organizers of public readings in parks have been accused of using public funds to support Navalny in a recently opened investigation.Navalny’s final word:

The last word of Alexei Navalny

“How many times in his life can a person who is not engaged in anything illegal pronounce his last words? Over the past year and a half, this is my sixth or seventh last words. It’s as if we are coming to the last days. All of you–judges, prosecutors, plaintiffs–in your conversations with me, look at the table. You all say, ‘Alexey, well, you already know everything.’ I understand, I understand that you now will not jump up, nor will the representative ‘Yves Rocher’ stand up and say, ‘You have convinced me.’ No, I understand that people are not built this way. No one will say to his family: ‘Today I jailed an obviously innocent man, and I live with it.’ I understand that it will sound like, “You already know everything,” or ‘Well, what did with regard to Putin…’

“My words refer to those who practice wrong or ignore what is happening. My words to you are for recognition that we should not tolerate lies about everything. I’m told that Russian interests in Turkmenistan–they do not exist, but for the interests of Russians in Ukraine it was necessary to start a war. I am told that in Gazprom they do not steal. I bring the documents and hear, ‘This just doesn’t exist.’ I say that we are ready to run in the elections and to demonstrate that we are forming a party. And we are not allowed into the elections and hear, ‘We have won.’

“The more a person brings to a lie, the more he faces that lie. A lie is the essence of the state. Yesterday Putin spoke and said, ‘We have no palaces!’ Yes, we took pictures of three of them in a month.

“Why put up with this nonsense? Why look at the table? Life is too short to look at the table. I do not have time to look back–I’ve already turned forty. Soon I’ll have grandchildren. We’ll look around and we’ll be in bed, and they’ll be looking at us and thinking, ‘Hurry up and vacate it.’We can be proud only moments when we can honestly look into the eyes of each other, when we do something worthy.

“For me it’s quite a painful situation. And a cunning, painful format, which is chosen by the Kremlin, not just putting me in jail, but trying to bring in more people: Ofitserova, the father of five children–and his wife–I have to look them in the eye. I admit it: yes, they hook me in, and also even innocent people are being dragged in. But even taking hostages can not stop me. Life has no meaning if we tolerate lies. I will never agree with the system that has been built in this country. It is built so as to rob everyone who in this room. This is a real junta.

“I do not regret a single second of the actions which I took to fight corruption. Kobzev told me, ‘Alex, you’ll just be jailed, because you have to challenge it, and they won’t endure it.’ Nakarkal! [He has predicted evil!] You can not live with the thought ‘Oh, I will be jailed.’ I was aware of this. But I do not regret it and will encourage people to exercise their right to freedom of assembly, among other things.

“And people have a legitimate right to revolt against the junta that has grabbed everything. We allowed them to rob us and turn us into beasts. What have they paid us? or what were you paid–staring at the table? Education, do you have it? No. Health Care? No. The roads? No. What are the wages of the bailiffs standing here? No, you’re robbed every day. I will not tolerate this. Will stand as long as necessary–here, beside this cage, or inside it.

“My brother was not going to engage in politics. There is no need to aggravate this. I will not stop because of the taking of hostages, but what do they gain from killing them? I appeal to absolutely everyone. It may sound naive, and we are used to laughing at the name of this famous article [by Solzhenitsyn], but, ‘Live not the lie.’

“‘Live not by lies.’ Nothing else is left. In our country, in this situation, there’s no other solution.

“I thank you all for your support and call on everyone to ‘live not by the lie.’ I’m absolutely sure that if they isolate me, if they imprison me and so on, another will come and take my place. I never did anything unique or complicated. I’m sure that in the Anti-Corruption Fund or elsewhere there will be people who will continue to do the same, regardless of the decisions of these courts, the only purpose of which is to imitate justice. Thank you.”

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By James Haleavy