Hunger, Squalor Mar South Sudan Post-War Unification Efforts

Rebel fighters hold up their rifles as they walk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. File. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo
Rebel fighters hold up their rifles as they walk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. File. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo
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Hunger, Squalor Mar South Sudan Post-War Unification Efforts

Rebel fighters hold up their rifles as they walk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. File. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo
Rebel fighters hold up their rifles as they walk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. File. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo

Here in crowded camps in South Sudan, former enemies are meant to be joining forces after a five-year civil war so they can help the shattered country recover. But they can barely find enough food.

The Associated Press (AP) spoke to women, both former rebel fighters and government troops, who are among tens of thousands of people being trained as a unified security force. It's meant to be a major step in the 2018 peace deal ending the war that killed nearly 400,000 people.

Visits to a handful of camps found squalid conditions, with food supplies expired or stolen by corruption. With few sanitary products available, the women use random pieces of cloth, even strips of bedsheets, for their periods.

While some seek informal work in nearby communities to get by, the threat of sexual assault — even by male trainees — makes others wary of venturing too far.

“I’m describing the situation as disgusting,” said Nyaluel Makuei. The 36-year-old mother of seven said she has dedicated her life to serving her country, but she finds little support now.

“Even if you get a piece of soap you still stink and smell bad," she said. “Some of our sisters left the center because of that situation.” At times, she said, meals are just porridge mixed with salt to satisfy hunger because the camp’s supply of beans turned rancid.

The women who once fought on opposing sides now identify themselves as members of South Sudan’s unified force, an effort to leave their past behind. But they are reminded of their country’s persistent troubles — insecurity, graft, poverty — at every turn.

Some in the international community warn that South Sudan’s implementation of the peace deal is in peril. A United Nations panel of experts this year said the training camps host far fewer people than the goal of 83,000, and government soldiers make up a “significantly smaller percentage” than former rebel fighters.

Most government forces remain in barracks elsewhere.

“Many key commanders instructed their forces to remain outside of the security reunification process, retain their weapons and stand ready to re-engage in active fighting,” the UN report said.

Instruction in the training camps is limited to “basic moral orientation, rather than any substantive military training,” it added.

Meanwhile, vicious intercommunal fighting in parts of South Sudan has killed hundreds of people this year. A well-trained, properly provisioned security force is needed.

“I am acutely aware that the peace implementation remains painfully slow and far below your expectations,” President Salva Kiir said last month.

According to AP, at the Toufigia police training center in Malakal, which hosts more than 3,000 people, women reported selling tea or making charcoal to find money to survive.

Veronica Akiij, 41, said she decided to work as a tea lady to support her family. Awin Deng, 39, said she stayed up at night baking bread to sell. She hopes to be part of the first batch of police officers to graduate from training but has seven children to support.

“We are tired of this situation,” said Nyakuma Oyen, 25.

During a recent tour of the training sites, Defense Minister Angelina Teny acknowledged the challenges.

“It is not your fault, because 1,000 South Sudanese pounds ($7) cannot buy you a sack of flour. The situation is forcing you to do that,” she said of the informal work.

South Sudan’s civil war largely destroyed the health system and other basic services, leaving women especially exposed. Human rights groups and medical charities reported many women were raped after going out to find water or wood.

That threat remains, even for the trainees.



Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
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Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File

Iran's parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported as negotiations appeared to have hit a roadblock.

The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term, said AFP.

In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions".

He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept.

"The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said.

On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text.

The US and its Western allies have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic program was solely for peaceful purposes.

Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment.

Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line".

Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal.

On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium".

IAEA meeting

According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear program.

The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities.

On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it.

"Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV.

Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights".

A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material.

Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.