South Sudan’s Minister for Information Michael Makuei Lueth declared that the resolution of critical issues with oil pipelines, including repairs in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), was essential for the survival of the government.
Makuei emphasized the pivotal role of oil revenue, stating that without these repairs, the country’s financial stability would be jeopardized. He underscored the government’s dependence on oil revenue, which currently comprises the primary source of income, far surpassing non-oil revenue.
“Without such interventions, it could have spelled the end of the South Sudan government since oil revenue is our primary income. Non-oil revenue is insufficient, barely covering a third of salaries, let alone other expenses,” Minister Makuei said at a press conference in Juba on Tuesday.
“The decline in oil production resulted from a combination of factors, initially the impact of war and later exacerbated by floods. During the floods, some wells were flooded and remain unrecovered, contributing to the ongoing low production,” he added.
He noted ongoing efforts to work with oil companies to recover affected wells, but success has been elusive. Despite these challenges, he said, the country persists in producing what it can.
Makuei elaborated on the direct impact of the Sudanese war, stating, “The conflict in Sudan directly affected us as our oil, transported through a pipeline to the Port Sudan Red Sea port, is crucial for international market access. The current situation, including the Red Sea blockade, is a global issue, and our government refrains from discussing specific blockages due to conflicts involving the Houthis and counter-offensives by the Americans and their allies.”
He explained, “Houthi actions in the Red Sea, compounded by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict involving Hamas, led to a blockade. The Houthis’ actions prompted intervention from the Americans and their allies, resulting in a blockade and conflict in the region.”
Makuei, who is also the government spokesperson, urged journalists to respect the decision not to delve into current global affairs as contributing factors to the economic challenges faced by South Sudan.
While acknowledging the ongoing decline in oil production, Makuei criticized journalists, stating, “We don’t want to bore you with discussions on the Red Sea or events in Palestine. I assumed you were well-informed about these matters. If not, why did you choose journalism?”
Emphasizing the crisis in Sudan, with parts under the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and others under the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Makuei highlighted the need for caution in handling situations in areas where South Sudan’s oil pipelines are located. “Any mistake we make will impact us first,” he stressed.
Makuei elaborated, “In case of an oil pipeline issue in the SAF-controlled area, we must coordinate with RSF to access the region for repairs. Similarly, if the issue is in the RSF-controlled area, we need to engage with SAF. This approach aims to avoid hostilities from either side. It’s the politics of the day.”
He continued, “These are matters where we must exercise discretion. We don’t need to disclose our strategies openly, but this is the challenging reality we face. Striking a delicate balance is crucial for our sustained operations. Our freedom is contingent upon finding an alternative oil evacuation route.”
“As long as our oil solely relies on passing through Sudan, we remain vulnerable to conflicts in the region. The instability in Sudan directly impacts our peace. The key lies in establishing another evacuation route for our oil, and hence our strategic plans involving Ethiopia,” Makuei disclosed.
He explained that due to the ongoing crisis in Sudan, South Sudan is considering setting up refineries to export refined petroleum products globally. “We aim to establish oil refineries to export refined petroleum products. However, in the current situation, we must proceed with caution and strategic thinking to ensure our continued stability,” Makuei stated. - Radio Tamazuj
Justified Accord 2024 is U.S. Africa Command's largest exercise in East Africa, running from February 26 - March 7. Led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), and hosted in Kenya, this year's exercise will bring together 1,000 personnel and units from 23 nations.
This multinational exercise builds readiness for the U.S. joint force, prepares regional partners for UN and AU mandated missions, and increases multinational interoperability in support of humanitarian assistance, disaster response and crisis response.
JA24 features staff officer academics, including a Women, Peace and Security panel and Rule of Law instruction and a command post exercise, held in Nairobi. Concurrently, at the Nanyuki-based Counter Insurgency, Terrorism and Stability Operations (CITSO) center, the Kenya Defence Forces will host a multinational field training exercise, urban operations training, as well as a medical civic action program, providing medical care to up to 1,000 rural Kenyans.
“Justified Accord showcases the desire of U.S. and partner nations to increase readiness and interoperability when it comes to regional security and crisis response,” said F. Austin Blessard, SETAF-AF lead exercise planner for JA24.
Several U.S. Army forward-deployed units will participate in the exercise, including the Massachusetts National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve units, including the 772nd Military Police Company, 645th Regional Support Group, and 635th Movement Control Team, the 2nd Security Forces Assistance Brigade, 720th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment and the 7th Army Training Command.
The 2SFAB will partner with the U.K.’s 11th SFAB (Irish Guards) to provide tactical expertise to a multinational team from Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and Tanzania.
Additionally, the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program (SPP) will be featured throughout JA24. Soldiers from the Massachusetts National Guard share an SPP relationship with the Kenyan Defence Forces, dating back to 2015.
The Massachusetts National Guard Soldiers will exchange best practices with Kenyan forces in CITSO, designed to enhance policing skills with M4 carbine rifles and non-lethal weapons utilized during a crisis response scenario.
"Participation in regional security and crisis response exercises demonstrates our commitment to our partner nations," said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Alex Machado, platoon leader, 772nd Military Police Company, Massachusetts National Guard.
"As part of an overseas deployment for training, the 772nd MP Co. has a unique opportunity to conduct integrated, joint collective training with the Kenya Defence Force military police. Together, we are able to demonstrate our capabilities and exchange best practices in a dynamic environment. We are grateful for the professionalism of the KDF and the use of their superb training sites."
Ahmed Salem, the director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, has been under an aggressive smear campaign after the rights group issued a report on Egypt's construction of a fortified zone on the border with Gaza and Israel.
Reprisals Follow Reports on Gaza Border Activity
(Washington D.C, February 26, 2024) – The Egyptian authorities and affiliated groups have responded to recent reporting by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian human rights group with a focus on Egypt’s militarized North Sinai, with a smear campaign and threats against the group and its director, Ahmed Salem, 13 civil society organizations denounced today.
Since mid-February 2024, several government and pro-government figures and entities have engaged in an aggressive smear campaign against the Sinai Foundation and Salem on television, in newspapers, and social media. Salem, a United Kingdom-based Egyptian human rights activist, said that, through intermediaries close to Egyptian authorities, he received threats that he “would be brought back to Egypt” if he did not drop his work. One of these threats, through a government-appointed Sinai local clan leader, warned that Salem “is not far from reach even abroad.”
“The Egyptian authorities should immediately end the threats against the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights and its director Ahmed Salem,” said Seth Binder, [Advocacy Director, Middle East Democracy Center]. “The Egyptian authorities should ensure the safety of his family in Egypt, and end their smear campaigns and the relentless, years-long crackdown on human rights groups and independent organizations.”
On February 14, 2024, the Sinai Foundation issued a report based on witness accounts, photographs and videos about the Egyptian authorities’ hurried construction of a fortified zone on the border with Gaza and Israel in Egypt’s North Sinai which it reported was “for the purpose of receiving refugees from Gaza in case of a collective displacement” as a result of the ongoing armed conflict in Gaza. The report has been widely covered by major international news agenciesand newspapers.
Salem said that, since February 15, 2024, according to two sources in North Sinai, the Egyptian military has increased patrols and checkpoints in the area, stopping residents and construction workers, and looking into the contents of their mobile phones in an attempt to intimidate locals and prevent reporting about the construction work of the fortified zone.
On February 17, 2024, a prominent pro-government television anchor and a member of the government’s Supreme Media Regulatory Council, which plays a leading role in censorship and the government’s crackdown on independent reporting, described Salem on the pro-government TEN television as an agent linked to terrorist groups and the Israeli Mossad among other allegations presented without evidence.
The official X (formerly Twitter) account of the Sinai Tribal Union, the main pro-army militia group in Egypt’s North Sinai, described, on February 16, the Sinai Foundation, without naming it, and independent reports, as efforts by conspirators to “spread poison against the Egyptian State.” Several pro-government pages on X and Facebook published photographs of Salem with similar allegations.
Satellite images of the border area captured between the 5th and the 19th of February and analysed by Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab show the clearing of land and construction of a new wall.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government has launched a public relations exercise to deny the news about building camps for Palestinians in Sinai. On February 16, 2024,Egypt’s State Information Service denied in an official statement that the government was preparing to receive Palestinians in Sinai and said that such reports “give a wrong impression, falsely propagated by some, that Egypt is participating in the crime of (forced) deportation that some parties in Israel have been advocating for.”
For over a decade, the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has used media smear campaigns to intimidate human rights activists and discredit their work as part of a multifaceted campaign to obliterate Egypt’s once vibrant civic space. Those campaigns have often been led by television anchors who are close to government and security circles or hold official positions, and have included aggressive forms of disinformation and statements that in some cases include incitement to violence and threats of harm.
Such campaigns have frequently involved transnational repression, targeting human rights defenders based outside Egypt, including by harassment, arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions and prosecutions of family members of those living in exile. Despite living in the United Kingdom with his wife and children, Salem expressed fear that the authorities could target his family members in Egypt. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on February 22 that she “urge(s) the Egyptian government to ensure his (Salem) & his family’s safety.” The Egyptian government should heed this call and prevent any retaliation against Salem’s family members, the organizations said.
The Sinai Foundation has been one of the main independent, credible sources of information about developments in North Sinai, where the Egyptian government forces, mainly the military, have battled armed militants of Wilayat Sina’ (Sinai Province), an armed group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. Both the military and ISIS militants have committed serious abuses, some of which amount to war crimes according to Human Rights Watch, but the armed clashes remained largely hidden due to Egyptian military restrictions on reporting.
Under the pretext of battling this armed group, Egyptian security forces have displaced tens of thousands of North Sinai residents and imposed restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which have brought commercial and economic activity, for several years, to a near halt. According to Human Rights Watch’s research, thousands of North Sinai residents have been subjected to mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Since then, North Sinai has turned into a closed military zone under a tight government media siege to prevent the flow of information and curtail access to journalists and independent observers.
Even though the military has apparently been able to largely eradicateWilayt Sina’, and its attacks have almost ceased since 2022, the region effectively remains a closed military zone where independent reporting has been severely restricted. Massive home demolitions, farmland destruction and forced evictions by the military in border and non-border areas have been among the main grievances of the local population. The fortified zone currently being built by the Egyptian government includes some of the areas from where the local population had been forcibly evicted.
The Egyptian authorities should immediately halt reprisals against critics living abroad and end its zero-tolerance policy of independent reporting which is effectively criminalizing freedom of association and expression and human rights work. The Egyptian authorities should also immediately allow independent journalists and independent civil society to work freely in Sinai, and report on the grievances of its residents following a decade of military operations hidden from public scrutiny as well as any impact of cross-border developments on the ongoing armed conflict in Gaza.
“Instead of intensifying its chokehold on reporting in Sinai, the government should ensure that the human rights abuses committed during a decade of military operations there are independently investigated, including those bravely documented by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights,” Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch said.
Informer East Africa is a UK based diaspora Newspaper. It is a unique platform connecting East Africans at home and abroad through news dissemination. It is a forum to learn together, grow together and get entertained at the same time.
To advertise events or products, get in touch by info [at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447957636854. If you have an issue or a story, get in touch with the editor through editor[at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447886544135.
We also accept donations from our supporters. Please click on "donate". Your donations will go along way in supporting the newspaper.
