US wants proof of Sudan ‘progress’
UNITED NATIONS, April 5, (Agencies): US Ambassador
Nikki Haley said Tuesday the Trump administration wants to see “proof” from Sudan’s government — not more words — that it is making progress toward peace and protecting civilians in its vast and troubled Darfur region.
A review of the 17,000-strong joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which costs over $1 billion annually, is underway. Haley told the Security Council that the Sudanese government has tried to obstruct its operations “from day one” and “is still failing to protect its people.”
“But against all of these odds, the mission has helped to protect civilians,” she said.
The Sudanese government wants the joint mission, known as UNAMID, to leave. But Haley said after 10 years the council needs to see that the Sudanese government is doing far more to help its people by meeting benchmarks to ensure peace, protect civilians and prevent violence.
“It is not enough for the government to promise to do better,” she said. “We need to see proof.”
The UNAMID mandate is up for renewal in June and Haley said the US expects SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres’ next reports to the council to “clearly spell out where Sudan meets these benchmarks and where it does not.”
‘Peace not guaranteed’: Germany says the United States’ plan to spend more on its military won’t guarantee peace and it criticizes the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to foreign aid.
Germany’s development minister, Gerd Mueller, spoke Tuesday while announcing what he called a “Marshall Plan with Africa” focused on improving economic growth, security and rule of law.
Diplomats applauded as Mueller said that “anyone who pretends that more military is the answer will see that he will not be getting more peace.”
ANC stands by Zuma: South Africa’s ruling African National Congress backed President Jacob Zuma after calls for his resignation from various groups after he dismissed a respected finance minister, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.
The rand fell by 1 percent and bonds weakened after Mantashe said the ANC would not be part of a movement to remove Zuma, despite a chorus of criticism by ANC-allied parties and unions, religious groups, civil society and the opposition.
Mantashe said the ANC had accepted the “irretrievable breakdown of the relationship” between Zuma and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan as the reason Gordhan was sacked, a move that deepened a rift within the ruling party. Car bomb kills 7 in Somalia: A massive car bomb blast at a restaurant in Somalia’s capital killed at least seven people, police said Wednesday, as fears grew that al-Shabab extremists who have vowed to destabilize the country’s new government were behind it.
Several others were injured in the blast near the ministries of internal security and youth and sports in Mogadishu, Col Ahmed Hashi said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. However, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic extremist group al-Shabab group often carries out such attacks.
Herder charged with murder: A Kenyan herder pleaded not guilty on Tuesday after being charged with the murder of a British man in the east African country’s northern region last month.
Tristan Voorspuy, a British military veteran who ran a safari company in Kenya, was shot dead at a private ranch in the droughtstricken Laikipia region.
He had gone to the ranch to inspect the remains of a friend’s home that had been burnt down by herders days earlier.
There have been numerous attacks in Laikipia in recent months as armed cattle herders searching for scarce grazing have driven tens of thousands of cattle onto private farms and ranches. At least a dozen people have been killed.