Day: October 15, 2021

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Friday unveiled a road map to end what he described as the country’s “worst and most dangerous” political crisis in its two-year transition.

Since a coup attempt in late September, Sudan’s military and civilian power-sharing partners have been locked in a war of words, with military leaders demanding the reform of the Cabinet and ruling coalition. Civilian politicians accused the military of aiming for a power grab.

“The coup attempt opened the door for discord, and for all the hidden disputes and accusations from all sides, and in this way we are throwing the future of our country and people and revolution to the wind,” Hamdok said in a speech.

Sudan’s military and a coalition of civilian political parties have ruled under a power-sharing agreement since the removal of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Bashir loyalists are accused of executing the failed coup attempt.

Hamdok described the current conflict as not between the military and civilians but between those who believe in a transition toward democracy and civilian leadership and those who do not.

“I am not neutral or a mediator in this conflict. My clear and firm position is complete alignment to the civilian democratic transition,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said he had spoken to both sides and presented them with a road map that called for the end of escalation and one-sided decision-making and a return to a functioning government.

He emphasized the importance of the formation of a transitional legislature, reform of the military, and the expansion of the base for political participation.

Referring to an ongoing blockade of the country’s main port in the east of the country by protesting tribesmen, Hamdok described their grievances as legitimate while asking that they reopen the flow of trade. He also said an international donors’ conference to benefit the region was being organized.

Civilian politicians have accused the military of being behind the blockade, which it denies.

Political groups aligned with the military have called for protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday. Groups advocating for civilian rule have called for protests on October 21.

Source: Voice of America

Political activists in South Sudan say mobile phone carrier Zain South Sudan illegally disrupted their telephone service, crippling their communications ahead of a planned anti-government protest.

People’s Coalition on Civil Action Coalition member Rajab Muhandis said that when activists tried to access their WhatsApp messages on August 29 — the eve of the planned protest in Juba — they received messages saying their numbers were registered to other phones.

Zain South Sudan denies the accusation of duplicating sim cards.

But activists say the move made it impossible for them to communicate with one another.

“Zain duplicated the sim cards of members of the coalition and those numbers were then activated on telephones and they were used,” Muhandis told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

“Since then, those numbers are active and if you communicate to these lines, the messages go through, indicating they are being used in telephones and there is no other company that could duplicate these numbers except Zain,” Muhandis said.

The protest fizzled amid what activists say was an intentional internet outage and warnings from security officials of serious consequences against organizers if the demonstration happened.

Activists say the phone company was part of a government-led effort to crack down on them and to deter the planned protests.

Coalition member Joseph Akol Makeer said he realized his sim card was compromised when he received a text saying his phone had been registered to a different device.

“What Zain company has done is unethical, unprofessional, criminal and endangers people’s lives,” he said. “Those who were in that contact were compromised and already the state has contacted some of them because they were sending me messages which were going to the state.”

When Makeer tried calling his own number from a different phone, he said the call went through but not to his phone.

The activists said they are planning legal action against Zain South Sudan.

Wilson Ladu, technical director for Zain South Sudan, said the company does not tap users’ communications.

“Our subscribers, their lines are protected, in fact we at Zain, we don’t tap,” Ladu told South Sudan in Focus. “We don’t have that right to tap and technically you cannot have the same number duplicated because it has the address. You cannot have two addresses.”

The company has not received a complaint from activists, Ladu said.

Juba residents told Reuters that the night before the planned protests that mobile data was unavailable on the network of South African mobile operator MTN Group, and the following day it was also halted on the Zain Group.

Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a London-based group that monitors internet disruptions, said it detected “significant disruption to internet service in South Sudan beginning Sunday evening, including to leading cellular networks.”

Source: Voice of America