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A CEASEFIRE BETWEEN South Sudan’s government and rebels was due to come into effect today, following a deal to end a brutal five-month war that has pushed the country to the brink of genocide and famine.
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, a former vice president, met in the Ethiopian capital yesterday, shook hands and prayed together, and “agreed that immediately all hostile activities will stop within 24 hours”.
The rivals “agreed that a transition government offers the best chance to the people of South Sudan” with the promise of fresh elections for the world’s youngest nation, said Seyoum Mesfin, head mediator with the East African regional bloc IGAD.
Both sides also “agreed to open humanitarian corridors… and to cooperate with the UN” to ensure aid is delivered to the more than five million people in need, he added.
Military officials from both sides said frontlines appeared to be quiet ahead of the deadline to implement the truce.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, left, and rebel leader Riek Machar, right, shake hands and pray before signing an agreement of the cease-fire of the conflict in South Sudan [Elias Asmare/AP/Press Association Images]
The peace deal, which followed intense lobbying from world leaders and Washington slapping sanctions on senior military commanders, came amid new reports of war crimes committed by both sides and fears that a wave of ethnic killings could result in genocide.
The war has claimed thousands — and possibly tens of thousands — of lives, with more than 1.2 million people forced to flee their homes.
Aid agencies are warning that South Sudan is now on the brink of Africa’s worst famine since the 1980s.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in South Sudan earlier this month to push for peace, said the “agreement to immediately stop the fighting in South Sudan and to negotiate a transitional government could mark a breakthrough.”
“The hard journey on a long road begins now and the work must continue,” Kerry said in a statement, urging “both leaders to take immediate action now to ensure that this agreement is implemented in full and that armed groups on both sides adhere to its terms.”
‘Mammoth aid effort’ needed
South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP that the truce appeared to already be in place.
“As far as the information I have there are not any skirmishes today. The rebels are under Riek Machar and it was Riek Machar who declared war against the government,” he said, adding however that he feared “other forces not under the control of Riek Machar.”
British aid agency Oxfam, one of a handful of aid agencies working in worst-affected areas of the country, said the deal was a “timely breakthrough after months of dashed hopes.”
“Civilians caught up in this bloody conflict need to have full confidence that they can return to their homes without fear of violence,” said Cecilia Millan, head of Oxfam in South Sudan.
“They need to get back to their fields to plant their crops as soon as possible or they will lose the chance of feeding their families in the coming months,” she added, saying the country still needed a “mammoth aid effort”.
UN rights chief Navi Pillay said the two leaders must “stop the killing, before the fire they have ignited makes the entire country go down in flames”.
Pillay, a former head of the UN genocide court for Rwanda, said she recognised “many of the precursors of genocide” listed in a UN report on atrocities that was released during the week.
These included hate radio urging rape and “attacks on civilians in hospitals, churches and mosques, even attacks on people sheltering in UN compounds — all on the basis of the victims’ ethnicity”.
Amnesty
Testimonies in a report this week by Amnesty International describe civilians including children executed by the side of the road “like sheep” and other victims “grotesquely mutilated” with their lips sliced off.
The conflict, which started as a personal rivalry between Kiir and Machar, has seen the army and communities divide along ethnic lines, pitting members of Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer.
The war broke out on December 15 with Kiir accusing Machar of attempting a coup. Machar then fled to the bush to launch a rebellion, insisting that the president had attempted to carry out a bloody purge of his rivals.
Since the foundation of the state, State run children’s homes, or those run by religious organisations, have been used as handy take away by the pedophiles in both church and state.
And Enda Kenny buried the reports into the abuse for 75 years.
I wonder why.
The report was sealed for 75 years yes. Some wanted the documents destroyed v some saying they should be kept. Over 16000 applications for compensation have been received, with over €944 million rightly paid as some small compensation. Abuse support groups were very divided on the reports/ documents being “buried”. I think a shorter time frame would have sufficed – but you grossly oversimplify and ignore the very sensitive nature of the situation.
@Charlie Wrex: When you’re lived it Charlie,and know people close to you whose lives, those still living, that is, have been blighted by what they have suffered at the hands of those put in charge of them, then talk about sensitive.
Keep your lectures to yourself.
Did you ignore, or just miss the point, i made Dave? Its precisely because peoples lives have been blighted by their horrendous treatment at the hands of these monsters, that the issue of how to deal with the evidence gathered arose. Im sorry you feel lectured to. Lastly, youre assuming i dont have aged relatives that were subject to abuse. Never do that Dave.
@Charlie Wrex: The reports should never have been buried Charlie. They are ultra- sensitive to those who carried out the abuse. Those abused had huge problems getting anyone to believe them at the time. The issue of how to deal with the reports is down to PCism and the offence industry.
You did lecture me. And i’ll comment how i like, do not tell me what i can and can not do.
When youve calmed down Dave, youll appreciate that not everyone agrees with you. A number of advocacy groups have diametrically opposite views on what should have been done. Your comment about “PCism” and “the offence industry” is genuinely beneath contempt. I told you to never make assumptions – which you did. Im glad you still havent grasped the point i originally made.
@Charlie Wrex: What is beneath contempt Charlie is the secrecy that always surrounds this abuse, and keeps the abuse going, safely for the abusers. That’s why reports are buried.Your original point? I ignored it. I’ll make all the assumptions i want. I really don’t know what to say about advocacy groups. Some are useful, while some are making a good living out of the misery of others.
I wouldn’t let them pull my trousers down Charlie. So i got beaten black and blue instead. And when my mother went to the school to ask about why i was always getting bruised and hurt, they had witnesses to say i was always causing fights.
You really shouldn’t make assumptions Dave particularly in light of what youve shared here. I appreciate your honesty. Unfortunately my elderly relation was unable to stop her abusers so she was continually sexually assaulted and beaten if she made a sound. I completely agree with you regarding secrecy and the silence surrounding and protecting abusers. We will agree to disagree regarding the reason behind the “burial” of the report though. I take your point and can understand why you have that view. The lid is off and we have seen people like yourself and my relation be able to express their pain anger and despair. The restitution is something but can sadly never undo what has happened. We can only hope that anyone being abused physically sexually or emotionally can find the strength to come forward. I wish you well Dave.
@Charlie Wrex: Fair enough Charlie.It’s one of those things that can raise different emotions in people. It make me very angry and i shoot from the mouth at times.
@Dave Doyle:well the untouchables no matter what wrong is done
Enda buried the reports for 75 years? Enda is in his 60s so your comment is nonsense. Truth be told, Enda wept in the Dáil for the Magdalen slaves and he now invites the leader of the Church that perpetrated their incarceration to visit a cash-strapped Ireland while the Magdalen slaves still await redress. Time to fire Enda and to refuse to fund Francis’s junket! Where stands the Independent Alliance? Will rent-a-crowd Paul Murphy stand up and be counted? Will Claire Daly and Mick Wallace?
No commenting on the DOB article, has anyone seen the “Clinton cash” documentary?
Hillary Clinton is an icon to the Irish left and most who comment here.
@Keith Mitchell: You just don’t have a clue, do you.
Dave Doyle admirer of brutal tyrannical dictator Fidel Castro you do not have a clue or any form of moral compass.
@Keith Mitchell: A supporter of a government that will see 2,500 children homeless this Christmas talks about a “moral compass”.
Hypocrisy coupled with ignorance.
No comments pussies
Reference to DOB article. Sorry
We obviously can’t be allowed to comment on the true ruler of Ireland. What a joke that he can effectively gag a government. What a joke that the country has evidence of his corrupt dealings and won’t take any action against him.
Why can ya never comment on that clown and all his bogey dealings ..#DOBISACLOWN
… and here we go again.
Will anyone loose their jobs. NO
No but they will be sorry and “take full responsibility”. Isn’t that enough?
Have faith… they have “… started implementing a number of measures designed to protect children”.
I would have thought having a few measures in place to protect children would be pretty important in a children care home alright.
Oh and “no new admissions are accepted until it is satisfied it can deliver the care needed.”
So presumably, beforehand, they were just taking anyone in, regardless of whether they could provide the services they needed…
Thats great, really top notch people doing these jobs.
And the Church organisations do not fully comply yet, and they get away with it! Their leader Francis is coming here at our expense, at Enda’s invitation, while homelessness increases, the sick go unaided and victims await redress!
They are only ever sorry when they are caught.
Every week or so there is another horror story from Tusla, every week I comment, nothing changes.
Only this is not exactly a “Horror Story” because we are not being told anything, so let me guess;
- As a child in Irish State “Care” is 6 times more likely to die than had they been left with their parents, I’m guessing a child died in “Care”?
- As a child in Irish State “Care” is 10 times more likely to commit suicide, I’m guess some unfortunate child committed suicide?
- Also possible that a child was raped because children in Irish State “Care” are 6 times more likely to be sexually assaulted.
- Maybe a child went “missing” from “Care” and was later found working in a brothel? Not a stretch given that 500 went “Missing” from Irish State “Care” and were later found in brothels around Europe.
It’s amazing the hatred that some people reserve for the Church, when in fact children were FAR safer in those institutions than they are today in Tusla “Care”. The HSE wanted rid of Child Protection as it was giving them a bad name, so Fanny Fitz stepped in and took the same 4,000 incompetent staff and gave them a new name. She went further, she increased the staff and the budget and even made it easier to take children and forcibly adopt them.
The idiotic Irish Public were duped by the Child Abuse Industry into giving away their parental rights to an incompetent Tusla. They didn’t pull a magical set of Children’s Rights out of thin air, they gave the rights to Tusla which they removed from parents under Art 42. They even removed children’s rights which will now be determined by Tusla, yes the same people mentioned in the HIQA report.
It has only been a recent development that HIQA can inspect these facilities, but their powers are very limited. It would therefore take a very serious incident to come to light before HIQA found out about it. HIQA do not have the power to delve into why a child came into “Care” or be allowed to determine whether the child would be better off at home. In fact the Minister for Children is equally clueless as she is not allowed by law to know what is happening in any case. No TD or Senator is allowed to know by law and none of them with the exception of Mattie McGrath TD have ever set foot in a secret family court. In fact if a child is raped in Irish State “Care”, Gardai are not allowed to investigate. No government body should be allowed to operate with a level of secrecy that the KGB, Stasi and Mafia would be envious of, but this is how Tusla operates. Tusla also investigate themselves and never find that they have done anything wrong or illegal.
I have some faith in HIQA, but they are gagged by law from saying “anything to anybody” about what failings they witnessed here. If a child died in this horrible place, the parents of the unfortunate child are also gagged. This came to light when the family of Daniel McAnaspie were refused Daniels files by Tusla. Tusla claimed in court that the In Camera Rule still applied in his case, but he family argued; “How do you protect a dead child?”
Well that’s all from me folks, see you next week when another child dies in State “Care”. I’ll rant and rave as I usually do and you’ll forget all about the unfortunate child until the next child dies and we’ll keep this up until a child is dying every day in Irish State “Care”. The system has doubled in a decade and eventually Journal.ie will have to appoint 1 journalist to cover these horror stories on a daily basis. Until of course Ryan Report Two is convened and then we can all pretend we never knew what was happening.
@Joe Burns: Thank you Joe.
Hear hear
Usually HIQA pull no punches on their reports, that doesnt seem to be the case here with scant details on this care centre. Why is that, has HIQA been turned too.
“A significant period of crisis” – How long was this period?
“The failings led to children at the centre coming to significant harm ” – Specifically, what was the harm caused by the negligence?
If this was detected early on how many staff would be on their third and final written warning and ousted from this CARE home thus ending the period of crisis and the threat of significant harm?
@Lazlo Saint Pierre: The soldiers don’t take kindly to taking the blame for the chiefs any more. Therefore no one gets fired, or all get fired.
If this was you or I we would be rightly up in court – why do Tusla get away with so much again and again and again??!!
@Kimurphy:@Kimurphy:because they seem to be imume from taking responsibility
Well well this does not surprise me nothing has changed in the last decade and a half this is shocking and nobody is ever held responsible also nobody was over what happened in the house of horror Newtown house Co Wicklow in 2001 .http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=175 And it’s still going on. What’s needs to happen is who ever is in charge need to be prosecuted then it might stop otherwise it’s going to go on and on .
Nothing new in Ireland.
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