By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

On Thursday, the Sudanese president vowed to “never give up” a disputed oil-rich region that has led to escalated tensions between Sudan and South Sudan and sparked fears of a return to war.

Clashes between the two nations soared in the past week after South Sudan declared the disputed Heglig region to be under its control.  Sudan also claims ownership of the region and has lodged complaints with the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU), urging both groups to pressure South Sudan to withdraw its troops from the territory.

“We will never give up an inch of our land,” Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said during a rally broadcast on state media.  “And we have said it before, whoever extends his hand toward Sudan, we will cut it off.”

President al-Bashir’s defiant speech continued: “We will punish them…and it will be the last lesson for them.  If they do not understand, we will make them get it by force.  We extended our hand before for peace and unity.  But they deceived us.  Heglig is the start.”

The international community has urged the two countries to return to the negotiating table amid the intensified tensions.  South Sudan split from Sudan in July 2011 under the terms of a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war.

“The last thing the people of these two countries need is another war – a war that could claim countless lives, destroy hope and ruin the prospects of peace and stability and prosperity of all Sudanese people,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

The UN Security Council issued a statement demanding “a complete, immediate and unconditional end to all fighting and a withdrawal of the SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army of South Sudan] from Heglig and an end to aerial bombardments.

The United States (US) has also called for both sides to stop the hostilities.  “We condemn South Sudan’s military involvement in the attack on and seizure of Heglig, an act which goes beyond self-defense and has increased tensions between Sudan and South Sudan to dangerous levels,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.  “We also condemn the continued aerial bombardment in South Sudan by the Sudanese Armed Forces.”

Five people were killed and five others were wounded this past weekend after an airplane dropped bombs on a town in South Sudan.  Col. Philip Aguer, a spokesman for the SPLA, said that the aerial strike hit a market area in Rubkona in the early afternoon on Saturday.  Two other counties were reportedly also attacked that day.

“We will observe closely the behavior and attitude of the reaction of the government of the South to this call and if they don’t heed it, we will reserve our right to exercise the right of self-defense and we will chase them out,” Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said.

While South Sudan did not immediately respond, Maj. Gen. Mangar Buong, a deputy commander for the South Sudanese military vowed to hold their position.

Later, South Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN Agnes Oswaha blamed the Sudanese government for attacks of their forces at the border, provoking the South Sudanese actions at Heglig.

“South Sudan had no choice.  It had to defend itself to deter attacks on South Sudanese territory,” Oswaha said.  “South Sudan is prepared to withdraw troops as long as a mechanism is put in place that the area cannot be used to launch further attacks.”

Tensions have continued to run high since the separation last year.  Unresolved issues pertaining to the divorce include status of citizens, how much the landlocked South should pay to transport its oil through Sudan, and the division of national debt, among others, including the fate of disputed border areas.

Addressing a rally in Khartoum on Wednesday, al-Bashir accused South Sudan’s ruling party, the SPLM, of seeking to execute “the agendas of world powers to oust the government in Khartoum” before threatening to do it the other way himself.

“Either we end up occupying Juba [the capital of South Sudan] or you end up occupying Khartoum, but the boundaries of the old Sudan can no longer fit us together.  Only one of us has to remain standing,” Bashir said.

He further pledged to liberate South Sudan’s people from the SPLM, which he described as an insect that must be crushed.

“We have promised the South’s people to free them from the SPLM rule immediately and we bear a responsibility before the South’s citizens after we contributed to establishing the SPLM rule in the South,” he said.

Meanwhile, South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that al-Bashir’s words were a warning that he would like to carry out the “genocide” in South Sudan as he is doing in the Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions of Sudan.

The violence has led to increase of rights groups warning of deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a new analysis that the countries are “teetering on the brink of all-out war from which neither would benefit.”

“The deteriorating situation right now is making the overall humanitarian issues very challenging,” said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada.  Reportedly, supply lines to refugee camps have been cut off, and a failure to get key supplies before the rainy season hits will lead to an even greater humanitarian crisis.

“Diplomatic pressure to cease hostilities and return to negotiations must be exerted by both government by the region and the United Nations Security Council, as well as such partners as the US, China and key Gulf states,” said the ICG.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Arab League calls emergency meeting on Sudan violence – 19 April 2012

CNN – Sudan president vows to ‘punish’ South Sudan – 19 April 2012

CNN – Official: 5 killed, 5 wounded in aerial attack in South Sudan – 18 April 2012

Sudan Tribune – Bashir Vows to ‘Free’ South Sudan’s People From SPLM – 18 April 2012

By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

A cell phone video allegedly showing a group of seven Soweto youths filming themselves raping a 17-year-old girl, who is said to have the mental age of a five-year-old, went viral on Twitter in South Africa.

Eight suspects, between 14 and 20 years of age, were arrested Tuesday morning and charged with kidnapping and rape, according to police spokesperson Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela.

“The video is very bad.  The men can be clearly identified as they take turns raping and filming her,” Makhubela told CNN.

“The girl can be heard pleading with the boys to stop,” journalist Mandy Weiner reported.  “They crudely jest and crassly spur one another on.”

The Daily Sun, a local tabloid, reports that it was the one to alert the police after a concerned mother who caught her daughter watching the video handed it over to the paper.

“The mother of a teenage girl saw the horrifying pictures and confiscated her daughter’s phone.  A work colleague of the woman said they recognized some of the boys and advised her to take the video to Daily Sun,” the newspaper reporter.  Interestingly, the colleague did not advise the woman to go the police directly.

The paper reports that the video lasts just over 10 minutes and the girl can be heard shouting “you are forcing me” repeatedly.

The Sun was also the one to inform the victim’s mother.  The woman reportedly said that her daughter had been a victim of rape since age 12.

“People took advantage of her illness and because my family is poor,” the Sun quoted her as saying.

The girl’s mother reported her missing on March 21.  Media reports suggest the police initially failed to open a missing persons case, but that the girl has since now been found.  Police suspect the girl was kidnapped and turned into a sex slave.

A local radio station got hold of the video and has been receiving requests to post it.  Eyewitness News editor Katy Katopodis stated that the station would never do that.

“To those asking for the #rapevideo link that #EWN reported on today.  Stop!  Not happening!  We’d never put it on our site.  Illegal & wrong,” Katopodis posted on Twitter.

According to the Film and Publication Board CEO Yoliswa Makhasi, the Films and Publications Act states that minors may not be used or featured in pornographic content and the creation, possession and distribution of child pornography is illegal.  Authorities have warned anyone who has received a copy of the video to delete it or risk being charged under these laws.

A popular radio talk show host broke down Wednesday morning as she encouraged listeners to come up with solutions to the problem of rape in the country.  According to the latest police statistics more than 60,000 cases of sexual assault were reported in the year ending March 2011, down from 70,000 in 2008.  NGOs estimate a woman is raped every 26 seconds in the country.  Women’s rights activist Lisa Vetten says that in the province where Johannesburg is located, one in every five rapes is a gang rape.

“Rape is a young man’s crime.  It’s a bit of a performance for them, showing off to each other how macho they are,” said Vetten.  “We need to teach our young men that you can be masculine in ways that do not involve violence and degrading women.”

Experts say that the South African government is well aware that the problem needs urgent attention.  “We are not lacking in terms of legal instruments to deal with this kind of thing,” said Nomboniso Gasa, an expert on gender and culture.  “What we lack are ways of making these instruments effective.”

The country has created a ministry of women and children headed by Lulu Xingwana precisely to deal with violence against women and other related matters.  Xingwana says that this case will be a high priority.  “Distributing child porn is illegal in this country so the police must confiscate this video,” said Xingwana in a radio interview.  Furthermore, “[i]n addition to the painful ordeal of rape the young woman was forced to endure, she is now subjected to a second assault on her dignity (the video),” Xingwana added.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Outrage in South Africa over internet rape video – 18 April 2012

CNN – Shocking rape video goes viral in South Africa – 18 April 2012

South African Press Association – South Africa: Board Warns About Rape Video – 18 April 2012