It appears there is another delay to the arrival in Juba of South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar’s forces, a crucial part to the implementation of the agreement signed last August between the Juba government and the SPLM-In Opposition.

A week ago, rebel leader Machar said he was ready to return to Juba once the city had been demilitarized and the first group of 1,370 of his forces had been transported to Juba.

Now SPLA-In Opposition military spokesman Colonel William Gatjiath Deng says the troops will not be arriving in Juba today as scheduled because the South Sudan government has not designated cantonment areas and food and medical care facilities for the troops.

“They supposed to go tomorrow to Juba, but we have a number reasons that can prevent our troops to go to Juba. These numbers can be numerated, like the government of South Sudan will designate cantonment areas within Juba, and also they can even provide transportation from Juba. When our troops reach the airport in Juba, they can also be picked up from the airport to our cantonment areas. And also we agreed that they can even provide basic life support like water, food, and medical care,” he said.

Col. Deng also said the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) has yet to get guarantees from the Ethiopian government to allow the rebels passage through Ethiopia with their light weapons.

“Also, the JMEC agreed that they have to talk with the Ethiopian government so that they can approve the transit of our weapons from Gambella, including our ammunition and light weapons because our troops cannot just go without approval from the Ethiopian government,” Deng said.

He said the IGAD-Plus, which includes the East African Community, the African Union, China, the European Union, Norway, the UK, United States, and UN are supposed to transport the rebel troops to Juba. But once the troops arrive in Juba, the South Sudan government would be responsible for transporting the troops to the cantonment areas.

But the South Sudan government said the rebels are to blame the fact that their troops will not be arriving in Juba on Tuesday as part of the peace agreement. Information Minister Michael Makuei said the rebels have yet to submit the names of their troops to the troika that is supposed to transport them to Juba as well as the types of weapons they are bringing.

“The main issue is not the absence of food or non-preparation of the site for their accommodation, but the main problem is on the side of the SPLM-IO which failed to give the list of these soldiers to the troika and to the EU who are supposed to transport them to Juba,” Makuei said.

Makuei said government forces have begun moving out of Juba, but they slowed down because they don’t want to leave Juba without security.

Deng appealed to South Sudanese to have patience. He said the rebels are simply following what the agreement said.

“We need to go back to our country and our capital. We know that our people really need peace. And of course, we also need peace. But if these things are not being done, how could we just go [to Juba] without guaranteeing this,” Deng said.

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Monique Mukaruliza, a former Rwandan Minister for East African Community (EAC) Affairs is the new Mayor of Kigali City.

Ms Mukaruliza, who served as her country’s EAC minister for about two years, has been the National Coordinator for the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NICP) and was elected after garnering 182 votes against her challenger Régine Mukeshimana, who got only 8 votes, cast by councilors from the Council of Kigali and those from districts and sectors within the City.

In the elections held at the Kigali Regional Stadium in Nyamirambo, Mukaruliza garnered 182 votes, while her challenger, Régine Mukeshimana obtained only eight votes.

Mukaruliza, who becomes the third woman to head Kigali City since the coming to power of the Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army (RPF/A) after the genocide of 1994, will replace Fidèle Ndayisaba, who has since been appointed the Executive Secretary for the National Commission for Unity and Reconciliation (NURC).

The other two women to head the city are Lt Col Rose Kabuye, the first post-genocide Mayor of Kigali and Aisha Kirabo Kakira, the first woman elected Mayor of Kigali.

Meanwhile, Parfait Busabizwa was elected as the vice mayor in charge of Economic Development while Judith Kazayire, the immediate former advisor to the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, was elected the vice mayor for Social Affairs.

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Nonagenarian Zimbabwe President Robert Gabriel Mugabe wants his birthday, which falls on February 21, declared a public holiday.

Media reports indicate that the 92-year old Mugabe, without elaboration, made the announcement at celebrations to mark his birthday yesterday, during festivities held a the Great Zimbabwe Monument in Masvingo, a run down city in the south east of the country that was declared a disaster area following a severe drought.

At the same occasion Mugabe, whose wife Grace has recently started showing interest in affairs of state by addressing rallies on behalf of the ZANU-PF Women League, reportedly took swipe at the party youth who have challenged his wife’s recent behavior, saying they must be disciplined.

“It is shameful the way Mrs. Mugabe is being criticized,” he said, accusing them of leaking scandals to the press. “Who may be the enemy among us?” Mugabe reportedly said.

Mugabe, who has ruled for 30 years since 1980, let 92 balloons into the air to start the festivities, which included school children performing military drills and reciting poetry praising Mugabe and criticizing western nations.

The event, dubbed the 21st February Movement after Mugabe’s actual birthday, has been held since 1986. Earlier in the week the Zimbabwean president marked his birthday in smaller celebrations that included blowing out candles on a multi-tiered cake with gold frosting surrounded by his family and a gala dinner attended the country’s elite.

The opposition has criticized the celebrations as insensitive to the many Zimbabweans facing hunger due to drought and a struggling economy.

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A senior official of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) has decried the current economic situation in South Sudan, saying there was need to review the salaries of civil servants.

Aggrey Idri, deputy chairperson of the national committee for economic affairs and resources mobilization in the SPLM-IO under the leadership of the first vice president designate, Riek Machar, said the current economic situation in the young country has reduced even the employees to ‘beggars’.

He said the minimum salary for a civil servant in the year 2005 when a semi-autonomous government in South Sudan was established was put at 100 United States (US) dollars, which was by then equivalent to 200 Sudanese dinars, and slightly raised to 300 South Sudanese pounds (SSP).

Many South Sudanese have their families living abroad and children going to foreign schools which require buying dollars to send to their families. A 300SSP salary per a month would only buy seven ($7) in the black market.

Prices of essential basic commodities have also more than quadrupled in the country.

Idri further argued that as the exchange rate between the dollar and the South Sudanese pounds has now reached 4000SSP per $100, while the minimum wage has remained the same, there was need to review the status quo.

“Can anybody disagree that we shouldn’t have a thorough review on this as our employees are virtually reduced to beggars,” Idri said in his comments seen by Sudan Tribune on Sunday.

He added that the opposition faction in response to the situation initiated the need to establish a commission to review the remuneration of the civil servants throughout the country.

“During the peace talks we (SPLM/IO) have strongly urged for the establishment of Salaries and Remuneration Commission which is now included in the CPA [Compromise Peace Agreement] and among institutions to be established immediately with the formation of TGoNU [Transitional Government of National Unity],” he said.

As the official exchange rate is currently $1 against 30SSP, the ratio in the black market is $1 to 40SSP, making a minimum wage of 300SSP for a civil servant equivalent to only about $10 a month.

The economy of the war-ravaged country is at the verge of collapse with international financial institutions warning that unless a transitional government of national unity is formed soon to attract foreign assistance to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into South Sudan’s economy, there is possibility that it will collapse soon.

The region has been dependent solely on the oil revenues which makes 98% of its overall budget. However, due to the fall of oil production in South Sudan, coupled with fall of oil prices worldwide, the situation has had measure negative impact on the country.

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