Good afternoon, it’s 1pm. This is Radio Miraya news. I am Chaplain Nemaya.
The Headlines
- President Salva Kiir invites four former political detainees to the peace process
- Jonglei State authorities to restrict market hours oversecurity concerns
- More than 300 police cadets to graduate today
President Salva Kiir has invited four former political detainees to get involved in the peace process.
The President met with Pagan Amum, DengAlor, Kosti Manibe and John Luk on two occasions during the recent IGADsummit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Speaking to journalists on arrival fromAddis Ababa, the Minister in the Office of the President, Awan Gol Riek, said the four will be part of a peace building process.
Awan: “The invitation is to come and join hands with the citizens in the country for us to work together because the country belongs to all of us. And for those of comrade Pagan and Comrade Deng, Kosti Manibe and the rest who are supposed to come and they are going to come. They will be here and they will do their best to stop the war in the country. From there we go on, we don’t want also the SPLM to die. That is another thing. If the SPLM fought the war and brought the independence in the country for the leaders to see it sinking and dying and disintegrating also into pieces is another major concern so we need to put SPLM back on track.”
Authorities in Jonglei State say soldiers who abandoned their bases in Gadiang have been brought under control.
Jonglei State Deputy Governor Baba Medan says army officials were sent from Juba to intervene.
Medan explains the matter is being handled administratively within the army.
Medan: “Five days ago SPLA soldiers entered the town at night time and started shooting within the town but our organized forces managed to control the situation and we took them to the barracks here along the river. The commander of the commando came and since yesterday the situation is normal, there is no shooting and no fearing.”
The Deputy Governor says restrictions will be put in place as a security measure.
Medan: “We asked the mayor to give some orders so that the market will be closed by six, especially bars, because soldiers used to go and take alcohol and all this, which is not good because it will encourage insecurity. So we put it like that so that we secure our town.”
Army spokesperson Col Phillip Aguer confirmed to Radio Miraya earlier this week that an unspecified number of soldiers had left their base in Gadiang.
The solders Radio Miraya spoke to cited non-payment of salaries for their action.
In Lakes State, the Deputy Chairperson for the Local Government and Transitional Authority is calling for an extraordinary session of parliament to discuss the security situation in the state.
Veronica Ujuma Philip Dak says MPs should return from holiday to come up with measures to address cases of inter-communal clashes and crime.
Dak says in the most recent incident, a suspected SPLA soldier and a senior four student from Rumbek Secondary School, were killed by unknown gunmen along the Cueibet - Rumbek road.
She says last month alone more than 200 people were killed in inter-clan clashes between communities in Cueibet and Rumbek Central counties.
Veronica Ujuma Philip Dak: “The other day we lost so many people in our State. We lost 160 in Gok toch panyar and 41 in Pakam. So these people, we lost them and we will not get them. The legislators they can sit and call extraordinary sitting to discuss about this death.”
Lakes State MPs broke off for recess in April and are expected back in August.
The Central Equatoria State Ministry of Education is training more than 200 teachers for the alternative education programme.
The teachers, drawn from the six stable states will teach students who do not have access to formal education.
Central Equatoria State Education Minister Hastin Yokwe Anisio says the programme will be extended to other parts of the country.
Hastin: “We intend to extend the same to other parts of the country which are not covered by this programme. And you know this is a continuous programme. So it is not only this group that will be trained but we shall continue training other groups in order to benefit all young men and women who missed out to go to formal education due to the war. So we are providing this alternative education which covers many areas including basic literacy in English, accelerated learning and other components so that they can acquire certain skills that can make them employable and contribute to the development of our country.”
The alternative education programe is supported by the UN cultural organization, UNESCO.
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End Impunity, a local non-governmental organization advocating for justice for victims of war, is calling on women to report any kind of sexual violence in war.
The organization says laws are in place but are not being executed to help victims.
The organization’s country director, Angelina Daniel, is urging the government to establish women’s help desks across the country’s law enforcement centres to ensure women can report incidents.
Angelina Daniel: “The issue of sexual violence against women in conflict, in my opinion, is that the first step is women must report. Report is the first step and the next you will get medical help. To do that, we need to raise awareness for our women to know that they have a right to access justice and equal protection before the law. And to do that we must report and after the report all the legal processes can go ahead”.
The comments come as delegates from 140 countries meet in London for the largest ever conference on sexual violence in conflict.
The four-day meeting, which started on Tuesday, is aimed at encouraging countries to strengthen domestic laws to enable prosecutions of perpetrators.
The participants will also urge for the training of all soldiers and peacekeepers and call for more funding to support survivors of sexual violence.
The conference is being hosted by British Foreign Secretary William Hague alongside American actress Angelina Jolie.
The management of the Al Massir Arabic newspaper has clarified on why it has stopped publication.
The paper’s editor-in-chief, Mathiang Cerilio, says they have stopped operations indefinitely after disagreements between the proprietors over shares.
Mathiang Cerilio: “The main reason for the stoppage of the paper is the collapse of the agreement between the members of the management board and the proprietors. Some legal issues will continue. We in the management board, we discussed these contentious issues before Thio Mathok rebelled. The main reason was a dispute on the shares of the paper. Earlier we called for an amendment of these shares.”
Al Massir started publication in 2011 and is regarded as the main daily Arabic newspaper in South Sudan.
Onto health, in a bid to control malaria, scientists in the United Kingdom have manipulated the genetic makeup of mosquitoes to create mosquitoes that produce 95 percent male offspring.
Malaria is transmitted exclusively by the female anopheles mosquitoes.
Reducing the number of males would mean fewer chances of malaria infection.
The research is still being developed further before it can be applied on a wide scale as a control measure.
Uganda’s Foreign Minister has been elected chairperson of the United Nations General Assembly.
Sam Kuteesa was elected by the 193 UN Member States and will serve for a period of one year from September.
Kuteesa’s election comes amid protests from his home country, Uganda, over allegations that he is corrupt and was instrumental in the passing of a recent legislation criminalizing homosexuality.
Talking to the press after accepting the presidency in the General Assembly in New York, he said he was the right person for the job
Kuteesa: "First of all, let me tell you this, that I have had a conspiracy by members of the opposition in our country, both inside and outside, who have tried their best to malign my name. I have never been found corrupt. I am not homophobic and I believe I am a suitable person to lead this organization for the next session."
The UN General Assembly presidency is held on a rotational basis among UN member States.
And, the world cup football tournament starts in Brazil today.
Teams from 32 countries will take part in the one month competition.
Today’s opening match will be between hosts Brazil and ‘Group A’ opponents, Croatia.
The opening ceremony is meant to start at 8 o’clock in the evening, local time, before the start of the actual tournament.
Juba residents we spoke to earlier had asked police to step up security to allow them watch the games in public places.
In our interview with police spokesperson Col James Monday Enoka, he said security will remain on deployment and restrictions on movement remain in place.
To end the news, here are the main stories once again.
- President Salva Kiir invites four former political detainees to the peace process
- Jonglei State authorities to restrict market hours over security concerns
- More than 300 Police cadets to graduate today
You have been listening to Radio Miraya news, with me Chaplain Nemaya. To let us know about the latest news where you live, contact us at;
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