Ethiopian troops enter S. Sudan’s Pibor to rescue abducted children

May 23, 2016 (BOR/JUBA) – Thousands of Ethiopian troops who have crossed into South Sudan have entered Pibor county of the newly created Buma state in search of abducted children from the Ethiopian Nuer community by the South Sudan’s Murle ethnic group.

A top Ethiopian diplomat, Ambassador Fesseha Shawel Gebre, has revealed that the troops will continue to pursue the Murle criminals until all the children abducted have been recovered and returned to their parents back in Ethiopia.

Last month, thousands of armed members of the Murle ethnic group crossed into Ethiopia and simultaneously attacked 13 villages belong to the Nuer community in Ethiopia, killing at least 200 people, abducting over 100 kids and took away also with over 2,000 heads of cattle.

Ethiopia responded by deploying troops to rescue the children, threatening to attack suspected targets within South Sudan should the Murle community not hand over all the kids.

Ambassador Gebre said the deployment of the Ethiopian troops inside South Sudan has been approved by the South Sudanese government, stressing that the move was important in order not to strain relations between the two neighbouring countries.

He said no order has been issued by the Ethiopian government to begin the attack as two governors of Gambella region in Ethiopia, Gatluak Tut Khot, and governor of Boma state in South Sudan, Baba Bedan, have been peacefully trying to recover the children.

“The Ethiopian troops are in the soil of South Sudan with the permission of the government of South Sudan to facilitate work for the governors on the two sides," Ambassador Gebre told a local newspaper on Monday in Juba.

He said the Ethiopian troops may shoulder the operations as South Sudanese troops were not capable for the joint operations given the difficulty of the terrain in Boma state.

"That area is very remote and access is difficult including crossing the rivers. It is the army of Ethiopia that is best placed and equipped with the infrastructure to rescue the children,” he said.

56 children have been rescued and returned to Ethiopia so far. That is about half of the number of people abducted following the raid.

But Ambassador Gebre said the raiders should be brought to books. He said Ethiopia expected "cooperation from Juba" to avoid the cross border military incursion.

PUNISH THE CRIMINALS

Meanwhile, Boma state administration announced a plan to persecute the raiders, and child abductors belonging to the Murle ethnic group, saying at least 50 criminals have been identified and awaiting prosecution.

Boma state governor, Baba Medan, made the remarks after he visited the Ethiopian region of Gambella to normalize security tensions between his state and Gambella region.

“On the 15th of April, a group of criminals from my state went and attacked people of Gambella. According to the reports, over 100 children were abducted and 2,000 cattle stolen,” he said.

“We, the government of South Sudan and government of Boma state are committed to bring these children. The directive from the president [Salva Kiir] was very clear that we have to work out this issue of children so that we hand them over to their parents,” he said.

Governor Bedan revealed that he had asked the governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, to give him time to recover all the abducted kids.

“I went to meet the President of Gambella region to give us another time for us to collect cattle and the remaining children. I hope very soon, we will be able to collect and hand over these children to their government,” he said.

Although no arrest has been made, possible majors of bringing them to justice would be drafted after Ethiopian children and cattle have all been returned.

“These criminals made a mistake to cross the border and steal cattle and children from Ethiopia. It is our mistake; we will ask the criminal to pay these numbers of cattle according to the report. Even if the number of cattle is 1,000 and they are claiming for 2,000 heads of cattle, we have to collect two 2,000 from these criminals,” lamented the governor.

The Ethiopian troops had again entered Raat, seeking approval from Boma state to allow them to pass through to Lamurnyang state, pursuing the cattle.

According to Medan, he denied to grant passage of Ethiopian troops to former Eastern Equartoria state, particularly the current Namurnyang state in an attempt to pursue their stolen heads of cattle.

However, the Ethiopian troops may act unilaterally should there be no cooperation or success in recovering all the human and animals raided from their country.

Source: http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article59062

ወደ ደቡብ ሱዳን ገብቶ የነበረው የኢትዮጵያ ጦር አካባቢውን ለቆ መውጣቱ ተነገረ

ኢሳት (ግንቦት 10 ፥ 2008)
በቅርቡ ከጋምቤላ ክልል ታፍነው የተወሰዱ ህጻናትን ለማስለቀቅ ወደ ደቡብ ሱዳን ገብተው የነበሩ ወደ ሶስት ሺ የኢትዮጵያ ወታደሮች ከሃገሪቱ መውጣታቸውን የደቡብ ሱዳን ባለስልጣናት አስታወቁ።
ወታደሮቹ ከጋምቤላ ክልል በቅርብ ርቀት ላይ በሚገኘው የፖቻላ ግዛት አካባቢ ሰፍረው የነበረ ሲሆን፣ በድርድር የተቀቁ ህጻናትን ሲቀበሉ መቆየታቸው ይታወሳል።
ይሁንና፣ ወታደሮቹ ሰፍረው በነበረበት አካባቢ የታፈኑ ህጻናት ባለመኖራቸው ምክንያት ወታደሮቹ ከሰፈሩበት ቦታ ለቀው መውጣታቸውን ስማቸውን መግለጽ ያልፈለጉ የደቡብ ሱዳን ወታደራዊ ባለስልጣናት ለሃገሪቱ መገናኛ ብዙሃን አስረድተዋል።
እስከ ሃሙስ ድረስም ታፍነው ከተወሰዱት ከ100 በላይ ህጻናት መካከል 53ቱ በድርድር የተለቀቁ ሲሆን፣ የቀሪዎቹ ህጻናት ሁኔታ ግን አልታወቀም።
የደቡብ ሱዳን ባለስልጣናት ህጻናቱን ለማስለቀቅ ከሙርሌ ጎሳ ታጣቂዎች ጋር ድርድር መካሄዱን ቢገልጹም ድርድሩ በምን ጉዳዮች ዙሪያ ያተኮረ እንደሆነ ግን የሰጡት ዝርዝር መረጃ የለም።
የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት የታፈኑ ህጻናትን ለማስለቀቅ በሚል በርካታ ታንኮችና ወታደሮችን ወደ ደቡብ ሱዳን ቢያሰማራ ልጆቹን ለማስለቀቅ የወሰደው እርምጃ አለመኖሩን የደቡብ ሱዳን ወታደራዊ ሃላፊዎች ለሱዳን ትሪቢዩን ጋዜጣ ገልጸዋል።
የሃገሪቱ ጦር ሰራዊት ተወካይ የሆኑት ብርጋዴር ጄኔራል አቲም ኦት ከሙርሌ ጎሳ ታጣቂዎች ጋር የሚካሄደው ድርድር እንደሚቀጥል አስታውቀዋል።
ከሁለት ሳምንት በፊት በጋምቤላ ክልል በተፈጸመው ጥቃት ከ200 በላይ የሚሆኑ ሰዎች መገደላቸው የሚታወስ ሲሆን፣ ከ100 የሚበልጡ ህጻናትም ታፍነው ተወስደዋል።
በዚሁ ጥቃት ከ20ሺ የሚበልጡ ነዋሪዎችም ከመኖሪያ ቀያቸው ተፈናቅለው በመጠለያ ጣቢያዎች ውስጥ እንደሚገኙ ታውቋል።

Source: http://amharic.ethsat.com/%e1%8b%88%e1%8b%b0-%e1%8b%b0%e1%89%a1%e1%89%a5-%e1%88%b1%e1%8b%b3%e1%8a%95-%e1%8c%88%e1%89%a5%e1%89%b6-%e1%8b%a8%e1%8a%90%e1%89%a0%e1%88%a8%e1%8b%8d-%e1%8b%a8%e1%8a%a2%e1%89%b5%e1%8b%ae%e1%8c%b5/

Martin Elia and associates deported from Ethiopia

A group of pro-government political parties headed by South Sudan's Cabinet Minister Martin Elia Lomuro have been deported from Ethiopia in response to Juba preventing opposition leader Lam Akol from traveling to the Addis Ababa talks.

Elia and his group traveled to Addis Ababa with the government delegation last week to participate in the peace talks, but Akol, who leads a group of independent opposition parties, said he was prevented from boarding his flight minutes before takeoff on orders of President Salva Kiir.

Speaking on Sunday at a hotel in Juba, Elia said an IGAD administrator approached his delegation hours after they arrived in Addis Ababa and told them arrangements were made for them to return to South Sudan the next day.

Elia said the administrator showed them a document reading: "unless Dr Lam Akol is allowed to travel with his delegation, the IGAD mediators reject your participation and have directed us to inform you accordingly."

The minister in Kiir's cabinet said IGAD was not fully informed about what happened to Lam in Juba. He claimed that Akol was requested to obtain clearance and wait for travel permit from authorities but refused to wait. Akol said a police official prevented him from boarding the plane.

"Why didn’t the IGAD mediators prevent the government delegation from traveling because it was the government not political Parties which Prevented Dr. Lam Akol from traveling?" Elia also charged.

Elia accused IGAD of bias against Kiir's government, and urged the venue of the peace talks move to either Tanzania, Rwanda, or South Africa.

"The attitudes of the IGAD mediators seem to favour groups both internal and external that are opposed to the democratically elected government of South Sudan in fulfillment of their regime change agenda," he accused.

"It is now our conclusion that for peace to return to South Sudan the entire IGAD mediation team must be reconstituted. While [Kenyan] General Lazarus Sumbeiywo may be acceptable definitely, Seyoum Mesfin [of Ethiopia] and Mohammed Ahmed Mustaffa El Daby [of Sudan] must be replaced," he said.

He said the two latter countries are undemocratic and have their own rebels so are unfit to negotiate peace in South Sudan.

This is the latest incident in an ongoing power struggle within the "political parties" group of stakeholders meant to participate in the peace talks between Akol's group of opposition parties and Elia's group parties which have joined the government.

Last year IGAD deported Elia's associate Martin Tako from Ethiopia. Tako had claimed to represent the political parties after South Sudanese authorities prevented Lam from traveling to Addis Ababa during a previous round of talks.

Source :
https://radiotamazuj.org/en/article/martin-elia-and-associates-deported-ethiopia

Over 47, 000 S/Sudan refugees relocated in Ethiopia

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The relocation of South Sudanese refugees from the flooded Leitchuor and Nip Nip camps in Ethiopia was successfully completed with a total of 47,038 of them consisting of 11,182 households relocated to Jewi camp.In a statement issued on Thursday, UNHCR said 44,422 refugees were relocated from Leitchuor camp and 2,616 others were from Nip Nip camp.

The statement said South Sudanese refugees continue to arrive in Gambella state of Ethiopia at a daily average rate of 400 people.

The majority of the new arrivals originated from Longechuk (Mathiang), Nasir, Ulang Maban and Akobo counties of South Sudan.

The new arrivals mentioned armed conflict, food insecurity and search for missing family members as the main reasons for their flight.

The cumulative figure of new arrivals from South Sudan from 15 December 2013 is 208,700, including 205,565 in Gambella and 3,135 in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region near Assosa.

71 percent of the new arrivals are female and 67% are children.

This brings the South Sudanese refugee population in Ethiopia to 272,964 refugees including the 64,264 refugees who arrived before December 2013.

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Ethiopia: UNHCR launches relocation of South Sudanese refugees

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 11, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun relocating thousands of South Sudanese refugees from flood-prone areas in Ethiopia’s Gambella region to a newly constructed refugee camp.

South Sudanese children who fled the country’s latest outbreak of violence gather at a refugee camp in Gambella, Ethiopia (Photo: Elissa Jobson/The Guardian)

The UNHCR is conducting the much awaited relocation operation in collaboration with the UN refugee agency’s local partner, the Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

In a statement issued on Monday and extended to Sudan Tribune, over 4,000 refugees have been relocated from the flood-affected Liet-chuor and Nip-Nip camps near the border with South Sudan to the newly established Jewi camp, only 18 kilometres away from the Gambella regional capital, Gambella town, in western Ethiopia.

The refugees were transferred to the new camp during the last three days with an additional convoy of buses carrying some 1,680 people on their way to Jewi camp.

“The relocation exercise to Jewi reefugee camp was launched on Friday, 8 May with the first convoy of 1,376 refugees arriving in the new camp,” said the statement from the UNHCR-Ethiopia.

“Over the weekend, more than 4,200 refugees had been relocated from flood-prone Liet-chuor and Nip-Nip camps,” it says.

The UNHCR head of sub-office, Angele Djohossou, and the ARRA zonal coordinator, Teferi Bekele, welcomed the first batch of refugees to Jewi camp and assured them of protection and better humanitarian services.

Djohossou commended all partners for ensuring that protection and essential services such as shelter, medical care, water and sanitation were in place for the relocating refugees.

“We are sincerely thankful to the government of Ethiopia and to all donors for making the launch of relocation to Jewi camp a reality,” she said.

UNHCR said relocating refugees from flood-prone areas had been fraught with challenges key of which was identifying a suitable site.

Jewi camp has a capacity of about 50,000 refugees. It will accommodate about 48,000 refugees from the low land Liet-chuor camp, which was established in January 2014, but became flooded last August together with Nip Nip camp.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is facilitating convoy movement which will now focus on relocating refugees to better suitable locations within Gambella region.

WFP is also providing the refugees high energy biscuits and water during the journey and other basic assistance up on arrival.

There are over 200,000 South Sudanese refugees in various camps in Ethiopia, who are

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