February 23 - March 09, 2014

Contents

Compiled by Lauren Osselton, MIGS Media Monitor for South Sudan

1. The UNMISS Present Interim Report to the UNSC
2. Aid organizations are targeted, and struggle to provide assistance
3. New round of peace-talks sees participation by civil society and youth organizations
4. New Clashes in Duk County
5. Fresh Fighting in Upper Nile
6. Humanitarian concerns reach high levels
7. New Clashes in Abyei

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 23rd

• UNMISS presented its interim report to UN Security Council – the reports states that civilians bear the brunt of the ongoing conflict.
• Hilde F. Johnson, Special Representative of UN Secretary- General and Head of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), emphasized the need for accountability.
  

Radio Miraya, (Independent Public Services Media), February 24th

• The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says the government welcomes the UN report and is currently reviewing it. He stated that the government has set up its own commission to investigate reports human rights abuses.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 27th

• Both sides reject allegations made in the UN report that both sides are committing human rights violations, including mass killings, torture, rape and forced disappearance. The report also emphasized that civilians are being targeted.
• A government spokesperson accused the authors of the report of not being neutral.
  

Aid organizations are targeted, and struggle to provide assistance

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 23rd

• Oxfam managed to safe four aid workers who were trapped in Upper Nile State as a result of the outbreak of violence in the region. Oxfam said several aid workers remain at the UN compound, unable to leave.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 23rd

• Four aid workers trapped as a result of the fighting in Malakal were able to get out.
• Oxfam warned against the severe lack of humanitarian access throughout the country. There is need for clean water, food, and medical care.
  

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 26th

• Medical centers are being attacked and patients killed. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff found 14 dead bodies in a hospital in Malakal. MSF condemned attacks on healthcare facilities
• Medical staff in Leer is also forced to hide and treat patients rapidly.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 27th

• Hundreds of people are displaced in Jonglei and Lakes State. Women do not have access to basic sanitary needs and many have been forced to give birth in the open and with no clinical help.

New round of peace-talks sees participation by civil society and youth organizations

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 24th

• The SPLM hopes that the new round of peace talks in Addis Ababa will result in political and security reforms. The group wants a review of the constitution, security sector reform, as well as a comprehensive, inclusive and transparent political process.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 27th

• Members of an exiled political opposition party of South Sudan want to be represented in the peace talks in order to their voice to be heard. The South Sudan United Democratic Alliances (SSUDA) hopes to bring lasting peace in South Sudan.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 5th

• The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the mediator of the peace talks, has proposed the organization of a summit in order to discuss and review progress made in the peace process.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), March 9th

• The president of the Youth Union in Eastern Equatoria State urged young people to promote development in order to rebuild the nation.

New Clashes in Duk County

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 24th

• Philip Aguer (the spokesman for the SPLA) claims that the SPLA killed almost 200 rebels in Jonglei’s Gadiang region.
• The rebels deny losing so many men.
• A lawmaker in Duk County says that the rebels destroyed property in a reprisal attack in Duk country. Over 43,000 people were forced out of their homes

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 24th

• The rebels deny the reports that they attacked Duk County and blamed the attack on the SPLA instead.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 26th

• Twic East county, Jonglei, has been the target of cattle raids, child abductions and rebel attacks. Civilians are forced to flee to Lakes State.
  

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 28th

• The chief of Duk County, Jonglei, has been abducted by rebels. According to the MP of Duk County, he failed to support the rebels.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 28th

• 68,000 IDPs from Duk arrived in Twic East County following a recent attack. The opposition denies having carried out the attack.

Fresh Fighting in Upper Nile

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), February 26th

• The information minister of Upper Nile state claims that government troops have re-entered Malakal. The rebel forces took control of this area a week earlier.
• Machar’s spokesperson claims there is no fighting in Malakal.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 26th

• Machar’s military spokesperson denies the allegations made by SPLA that they attacked their positions in the Upper Nile and Jonglei states.

Humanitarian concerns reach high levels

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 28th

• With the coming of the rainy season, aid agencies and NGOs are concerned that the epidemics could break out because camps are congested.
• The UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan said aid agencies will try to relocate IDPs to larger and better camps. Around 60,000 IDPs remain at UNMISS bases.
  

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), February 28th

• The Norwegian Refugee Council says 3.7 million lives of civilians will be at risk if humanitarian needs are not met by the rainy season.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 3rd

• UNICEF reports that South Sudan is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. About 900,000 people, half of them children, are internally displaced.
• The fresh wave of violence makes the crisis even more dangerous, with food insecurity putting 3.7 million people at risk.
• UNICEF says that the conflict has had tragic effects on children: many girls and boys being killed, raped, orphaned, recruited into armed groups, etc.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), March 6th

• The UN Humanitarian Coordinator warns that South Sudan could collapse by the end of 2014 if something is not done to end the crisis.
• He says a ceasefire would allow civilians to return home to attend to their crops and livestock.

New Clashes in Abyei

Sudan Tribune (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 2nd

• 13 Misseriya were killed and 30 injured during new clashes between Misseriya and Ngok Dinka in Abyei Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 3rd
• The Sudanese government accused the South Sudan army of attacking Sudanese citizens in Abyei.

Eye Radio, (Independent News Radio and Website), March 3rd

• 1 dead and 14 injured in an attack in Abyei, according to the Abyei Area Chief administrative officer.

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 4th

• South Sudan accused Sudan of killing over 77 people and destroying villages in AByei

Sudan Tribune, (Online News Site, Based in Paris for Diaspora), March 4th

• Sudan’s co-chair of Abyei Joint Oversight Committee has now demanded the UN peacekeepers in Abyei to remove South Sudan forces from the area.

Additional News

March 3rd, Radio Miraya:

• Police fired shots at over 200 protesting students in BeG University.
• They used teargas and shots fired in the air to disperse them. 4 students and 2 police are injured.

March 9th, Sudan Tribune:

• Security agents in the South Sudan seized a UN arms shipment and accused UN personnel. The Information Minister says that this is a clear violation of the law on arms import.
• A UNMISS spokesperson argued that the containers were wrongly labeled and weapons belonged to Ghanaian peacekeepers.
• The government called for a public demonstration against this ‘illegal’ importation of UN armament into war zones.