United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Media & Spokesperson Unit Communications & Public Information Office MEDIA MONITORING REPORT THURSDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2013 SOUTH SUDAN, SUDAN Over 99% of Abyei's Dinka vote to join South Sudan: result (Agence France Presse (AFP) Misseriya slam Juba for not preventing Abyei unilateral referendum (Sudantribune.com) SOUTH SUDAN Court dismisses Pagan’s case against Kiir (Radio Miraya) Four arrested after man was beaten (Radio Miraya) Parliament ratifies African legal support facility agreement (Catholic Radio Network) Member states re-affirmed commitment to Nile basin cooperation (Gurtong.net) ICT powers development, says President Salva Kiir (News Agency South Sudan (NASS) UNMISS hands over projects to government (Gurtong.net) Japan avails $ 21 million to support the poor (Gurtong.net) Health Minister urges NGOs to mobilize resources in Juba County (Bakhita Radio) 3,100 Rumbek North flood-affected families need assistance (Catholic Radio Network) Relief items reach flood victims in Aweil and Kuajok (Radio Miraya) JRS donates printing machine to Tombura-Yambio diocese (Anisa Radio) ECS bishop tells government to recognise private schools (Easter Radio) Mukaya road construction face challenges (Easter Radio) Wau diocese starts training on justice (Gurtong.net) Ministry to launch assessment on existence of rift valley fever (Gurtong.net) No polio in South Sudan -- officials (Voice of America) Disease threatens South Sudan’s key crops, farmers on the brink (Theniles.org) OTHER HEADLINES SPLM-N announces the formation of new administration in S. Kordofan (Sudantribune.com) Sudan to reopen Sky news Arabia & lifts publication ban on al-Intibaha (Sudantribune.com) Faction of Sudanese Islamists to establish new party (Sudantribune.com) Experts demand lift of American embargo on Sudan (Sudanvisiondaily.com) UN says more troops needed to fight al-Shabab (Al-Jazeera.net) UN warning over millions of teenage mothers (BBC News) US says it is not spying on UN communications (Voice of America) Amount of lies increase in afternoon – research (Radio the Voice of Russia) OPINION/ANALYSIS/COMMENTARY/EDITORIAL South Sudan's 'bullet-bangle' artists make art out of War (Voice of America) Friends in despair (Al-Ahram Weekly) What does the unilateral referendum for Abyei mean for the state's people? (African Arguments/AllAfirca.com) The defining moment for Abyei’s Ngok Dinka(Sudantribune.com) LINKS TO STORIES FROM THE MORNING MEDIA MONITOR Ambassador Rahamtalla to visit Juba (Sudan News Agency) Abdulla Deng calls on Misseriya and Ngok Dinka to stand side by side for Abyei (Sudan News Agency) SUNA Forum to host Youth Organisation for Defence of Abyei (Sudan News Agency) Assembly suspends debate on Kiir’s amendments to media acts (Catholic Radio Network) Northern Bahr el Ghazal governor shields rejection to parliamentary changes (Sudantribune.com) NOTE: Reproduction here does not mean that the UNMISS Communications & Public Information Office can vouch for the accuracy or veracity of the contents, nor does this report reflect the views of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Furthermore, international copyright exists on some materials and this summary should not be disseminated beyond the intended list of recipients. Boat operators warned against overloading (Radio Miraya) DDR turns freedom fighters into developers (Emmanual Radio) Uganda-South Sudan trade disrupted as border market floods again (Sudantribune.com) Highlights Over 99% of Abyei's Dinka vote to join South Sudan: result Agence France Presse (AF), Juba, 31/10/2013 – Residents of contested region Abyei chose overwhelmingly to join South Sudan in an unofficial referendum, election officials said Thursday, although only one of two groups voted and the poll is not recognised by either Khartoum or Juba. "The referendum committee has announced the results, and the number of people who have chosen to become part of South Sudan is 99.9 percent of the vote," Luka Biong, spokesman for the Abyei Referendum High Committee, told AFP. (Back to Top) Sudan’s Misseriya slam Juba for not preventing Abyei unilateral referendum Sudantribune.com Khartoum, 30/10/2013 – The Misseriya youth group on Wednesday announced they are no longer committed to any agreement by Khartoum and Juba and criticised the South Sudanese government for not preventing the organisation of the unilateral vote. In a second press conference held in Khartoum, the group denounced the position of the South Sudanese government saying that Juba failed to stop leading members of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) from organising the vote, stressing that it bears the result of their action. In a press conference held at the headquarters of the official news agency SUNA in Khartoum, The National Youth and Student Organisation for Abyei (NYSOA), members of the National Congress Party secretary general, Al-Saleh Mohamed Al-Saleh said no body has to blame them for any action they can undertake "to defend Abyei". Juba has failed to dissuade what he called " influential sons of the Ngok Dinka in the SPLM" from holding this referendum, he said, adding that nobody further held them accountable for violating the agreements signed between the two countries. Al-Saleh said their group will take all the necessary steps enabling them to protect the region from the hands of the Nogk Dinka members of the SPLM. He pointed out that Abyei belongs to the Misseriya and Nogk Dinka and they would not accept any compromise on this matter. Sudanese co-chair of Abyei steering committee, Al-Khair Al-Faheem, on Wednesday distanced the government from the initiative of the NYSOA members saying that Khartoum does not support any unilateral referendum organised by Ngok Dinka or Misseriya. He further stressed the need to establish the joint administration and police force there. A Misseriya tribal leader Al-Hireika Mohamed Osman told the semi-official SMC that they wrote to the president Omer Al-Bashir asking him to denounce all the agreements signed over Abyei with the South Sudan adding they have 30.000 Misseriya (fighters) ready to defend the region if the Ngok Dinka declare Abyei part of the South Sudan. On the other hand, the National Assembly speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir condemned the organisation of a referendum in Abyei saying "What is happening in Abyei is a rebellion similar to what happened in South Kordofan and Blue Nile". Al-Tahir further said that the group, which organised the referendum, tries to ignite war between the two countries. "Whatever they do, their move will not be legitimate", he added. The speaker was reacting to statements by the head of the parliamentarian opposition block Ismail Hussein who said that Khartoum and Juba jointly bear the responsibility of the referendum organised by the Ngok Dinka in Abyei. 2 Hussein, who is a member of the Popular Congress Party of Hassan Al-Turabi, said the failure of the two governments to reach an agreement on the organisation of the referendum triggered the unilateral referendum and the on-going preparations for the counter-referendum. He however rejected Tahir’s accusations that what he said mean he had sympathy for those who organised a referendum in Abyei. (Back to Top) Court dismisses Pagan’s case against Kiir Radio Miraya, 30/10/2013 – The Supreme Court has dismissed as an ‘internal matter’ a petition by the suspended Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Pagan Amum, against the party chairman Salva Kiir. The court ruled that the case, in which Pagan challenged a travel and media ban imposed on him after his suspension in July, was an administrative matter that should be addressed in the party’s political bureau, the party's highest decision making organ. The verdict was issued on Wednesday in a session presided over by Deputy Chief Justice, Robin Madol, and two senior judges. Pagan was accused of insubordination for using the public media to discredit the party and its leadership, among others. A five-member committee, led by Vice President James Wani Igga, was tasked with investigating allegations that Pagan mismanaged the affairs of the SPLM, both administratively and politically. (Back to Top) Four arrested after man was beaten Radio Miraya, 30/10/2013 – Police have arrested four suspects in connection with the killing of a man in New Site residential area in Juba on Tuesday night. The men were arrested as they allegedly tried to escape the scene of the incident. Police spokesperson Col. James Monday Enoka, said the four men were in detention as investigations continue. “Four criminals went into a house in New Site and called the owner by name and when he came out they beat him and they left him dead,” he told Radio Miraya. “When people came, they started running. The police came in and started to follow them and arrested them with the stolen property which is a computer laptop.” A case has been opened at Munuki police station, where an investigation is taking place, he said. (Back to Top) Parliament ratifies African legal support facility agreement Catholic Radio Network, 30/10/2013 – The National Legislative Assembly on Wednesday unanimously ratified Agreement for the Establishment of African Legal Support Facility. Acting Speaker Victor Omuho Ohidei announced the ratification to the House. MP John Luk Jok told the House that the agreement benefits the country in legal capacity building and solving complicated contracts with the African Development Bank. MP Mary Kiden Kimbo together with others called for reservation in assenting to the agreement. She cited economic costs involved and contradictions in some clauses of the agreement, stating compulsory and voluntary contributions at the same time. (Back to Top) Member states re-affirmed commitment to Nile basin cooperation Gurtong.net Rumbek, 30/10/2013 – The Strategic Dialogue between the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and its primary donors has ended on Tuesday with a call from participants for a renewed commitment to invest in an all-inclusive Nile cooperation and to sustain the gains so far.