Sudan: Bashir Threatens South Oil Flow Cut Over Rebel Backing

Khartoum----Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has threatened to shut down the newly resumed oil flow from South Sudan if it backs rebels in the restive states of South Kordofan and Darfur.

Oil flow from South Sudan to ports on Sudan’s red sea coast resumed only in March after more than one year of closure over transit row.

Speaking during a ceremony after the army recaptured Abu Kershola town in oil-rich South Kordofan state, seized by rebels last month, Bashir he would “completely close the pipeline”

"We warn the government in the South that if they provide any assistance to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N)  or to the rebels in Darfur, we will completely close the pipeline," he said.

"We will know if they stop the assistance, and we will know if they assist them."

Fighters of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) coalition had seized the town in the far north of the state on April 27 following several attacks on nearby areas.

Sudan’s defence minister Mohammed Hussein had recently announced recapture of Abu Kershola town from the rebels. SRF says they pulled from the town for “humanitarian reasons” to ease a blockade by the government on the town that was taking toll on residents there.

The SRF alliance was formed in 2011 by all rebel movements in Sudan, with cause to fight the Khartoum government which they regard as unrepresentative of Sudan’s political, ethnic and religious diversity.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of backing rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile as well as Darfur, claims which the south strongly denies.

Bashir said that all of the nine agreements recently signed must be respected and “failure to abide by any agreement” will nullify all others.

Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir under the African Union mediation struck a comprehensive deal that saw stalled oil production resume, though border issue remain unresolved.

Fighting along the disputed border had threatened an all-out war between the two states in April last year, but both sides since agreed on a demilitarised border buffer zone under the AU talks.

Bashir made his first ever tour of South Sudan in April in a move seen to end the decades-long enmity.

Nairobi, Kenya

Kenya’s MPs Vote to Raise their Salaries

Kenya’s Members of Parliament have voted to increase their salaries amid waves of protests over the controversial payrise package that puts them among the world’s best-paid legislators.

In the vote passed overwhelmingly on Monday, the MPs will earn a monthly salary of about $ 10,000 each, 130 times more than the country’s minimum wage.

The vote comes after country’s Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had proposed a cut of up to 40 per cent on their previous salaries, pegging it at around $6,300.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged the MPs to accept the pay cuts to help free up funds for other public budgeting. The president under law has no power to determine their salaries tasked to the SRC.

But the MPs say the proposed salary cut by the SRC was imposed illegal, arguing that they deserve the $10,000 salary since they work hard. Some have argued that they need the high pay since constituents expect them to provide charitable support.

The SRC was established to review earnings of public servants and had revised the MPs salaries among other elective positions before the March 4 general election. 

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) alongside civil rights groups in the country have said they will move to court to challenge the vote.

"The supreme law (Constitution) ended the era when elected leaders could use their muscle to illegally determine their remuneration," said the LSK chairman Eric Mutua In a statement.

The MPs move has been criticised bearing the other privileges that come with the payrise. This could trigger similar demands by other civil servants like teachers and doctors who still remain lowly paid, and have at several occasions downed their tools in demand.

A recent demonstration earlier in the month over the MPs’ move saw Kenyans unleash pigs smeared in blood into the streets in the symbolic protest of greed by the legislators.

MPs in the previous parliament before the election had awarded themselves $107,000 each in send-off package that also provided them with an armed guard, diplomatic passport and VIP access to airport.

Parliament is made up of 416 MPs - 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate.