The Minister of Agriculture in the Federal Government of Sudan, Abdallahalim Ismail Al-Mutaafi, has arrived in Western Equatoria State to discuss with the State authorities ways of boosting agricultural activities in the State.

The MMD has described as over ambitious the decision by former Finance minister Ng’andu Magande to form another political party and warned that he will sink into political oblivion.

Mr Magande confirmed yesterday that he was one of the pioneers of the National Movement for Progress (NMP).

MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya said Mr Magande’s party would only be at the provincial level with little influence and that the MMD would defeat him in any election.

She said Mr Magande had given an impression that he was the best minister of Finance Zambia ever had when he was just given an opportunity to serve in the position.

Ms Siliya said there were thousands of Zambians who were better than Mr Magande and held higher qualifications than the former Chilanga Member of Parliament.  "Mr Magande confirmed yesterday that he was one of the pioneers of the National Movement for Progress (NMP)." 

And Evangelical Church in Zambia bishop Paul Mususu criticised Mr Magande for forming a political party.

Bishop Mususu said there were many political parties in the country which the former Finance minister should have joined.

He said even though democracy allowed people to form political parties of their choice, there was need to reduce on the multiplicity of political parties.

It would not be possible for newly formed parties to have unique manifestos from the existing ones.

Mr Magande said in an interview that he would offer himself as a presidential candidate in the 2011 elections.

“The movement has been established by my supporters who feel that they needed a forum to continue discussing. Even me I need to find a channel through which to communicate.

“In fact this movement started in North-Western Province and it is countrywide,” he said.

Mr Magande said he had done everything and that now it was time for him to lead Zambia.

He said it was a fact that he was part of the Government that helped the country attain the Highly Indebted Poor Countries completion point, and that it was also during his time that Zambia attained single-digit inflation in 30 years.

North-Western Province NPM pioneer Logan Shemena, who is a former United Party for National Development (UPND) secretary general, said the movement was spreading “like a bushfire”.

“With the cracks in the UPND and the confusion in MMD, the movement is spreading like fire. For now we are not focusing on leadership but to grow the movement,” he said.

[Times of Zambia]

A rare 3-day meeting of about thirty religious and community leaders as well as local government officials from the Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic, and Uganda has criticized the "lack of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy" to tackle the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). This came after the leaders met in Yambio town of the Western Equatoria State.

By Chaplain Nemaya

Juba, Sudan (Borglobe).... Reaction to the insecurity threats in Jonglei Sate, Western Equatoria and Bhar el Gazal States, yesterday provoked Lawrence Korbandy, an advocate from South Sudan Associated, to point out that National Congress Party and Khartoum Government in particular, is deeply engaged in fighting South Sudan by proxy wars, to endanger the up coming referendum.

 

He cited the chopper impounded last Month by the SPLM, as one clear example through which NCP backs up George Athor and the Uganda Lords Resistant Army in Western Equatoria and Bhar El Gazal.

 

“NCP if fighting the South by proxy war, the recent helicopter incident is a clear identification that they are against the Southern Government.” He stated

 

Northern Government does not want South Sudan to gain independence and be a democratic state. Because the North, is based on Islamic religion which in comparison is totally different from the South, Korbandy expalined.

 

He noted that, the Southern Government instead of speaking out the truth that the North is against freedom of Southerners, remains quite and admitant to whatever delays the NCP imposes on them especially with issues related to referendum.

The Commissioner of Raja County in Western Bahr-el-Gazal State, Rizig Dominic, said that they will work hard to ensure the provision of services to the local people. Meanwhile, the State Minister of Physical Infrastructure, Juliet Raphael Michael, urged the commissioner of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State to make the issue of food security their priority for the year 2011 in their respective areas.

UN News Centre

 

13 September 2010 –Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he has convened a high-level meeting at the United Nations to discuss the situation in Sudan as it prepares for a vote on the self-determination of the south of the country. The meeting will be held on 24 September on the sidelines of the annual high-level segment of the General Assembly, Mr. Ban told reporters in New York.

“We have to ensure that the two referenda, regardless of what the results may be, should be conducted in a transparent and peaceful manner. This will have larger regional implications,” the Secretary-General said. “This is almost the last opportunity for world leaders to discuss how we can make sure that this referendum will be successfully and transparently conducted.”

The referenda are provided for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed in 2005 and formally ended two decades of civil war between the northern-based Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south. Following the agreement, the SPLM formed the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan.

Inhabitants of southern Sudan will vote on 9 January on whether to secede from Sudan or remain united with the rest of the country. On the same day, residents of Abyei area in central Sudan will vote separately on whether to retain Abyei’s special administrative status in the north or become part of southern Sudan.

In response to a reporter’s question, Mr. Ban said he was happy that United States President Barack Obama “has made it clear publicly that he’s going to participate in the high-level meeting on Sudan.” In a related development, David Gressly, the Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has concluded a two-day visit to Warrap and Western Bahr El-Ghazal states by inaugurating the peacekeeping mission’s office in Kuajok, the capital of Warrap.

During his trip, Mr. Gressly met with Warrap Governor Nyandeng Malek and Western Bahr El-Ghazal Governor Riziq Zakaria Hassan, as well as members of the two states’ referendum high committees and assured them that UNMIS will provide robust logistical support and technical advice on the referenda.

“In an effort to strengthen UNMIS presence before the conduct of referendum, I am happy today to open officially the Warrap Team Site,” said Mr. Gressly, adding that the facility in Kuajok will work closely with the referenda support bases that the mission plans to establish in all of the state’s seven counties.