Sudan

Nicola told the Star in the January feature story that he arrived in Windsor on Nov. 22, 2015, just three days before his 17th birthday. He said he left South Sudan, his disease-ridden, wartorn home, for a better life in Windsor.

A South Sudanese man who was arrested in Canada last week for allegedly posing as a teenager in order to gain entry to the country and play high school basketball admitted in a immigration and refugee board hearing he is not a teenager but claimed he does not know his true age.

Canadian border officers arrested Jonathan Nicola on April 15 after receiving confirmation from the United States that Nicola’s fingerprints matched those of a man who had applied for a visa to the U.S. from Syria using a birth date in 1986. Nicola is believed to be 29.

He had been in Canada attending Catholic Central high school in Windsor and playing basketball for the school on scholarship since November 2015. His situation came to the attention of authorities when the coach at the school helped Nicola submit paperwork to allow him to travel with the team to the U.S. to play in games here.

During the hearing, Nicola told the officiant of the Canadian Immigration Division that he is ‘not a liar person’ but does not know his true age because his mother never told him his true birthday because she could not remember it. Nicola also said a man who originally processed his paperwork in South Sudan went forward with it despite Nicola never being able to provide an accurate age.

“I really do not know what is my real age, I cannot tell you what is my real age,” he said during the hearing, according to an official transcript provided to Yahoo Sports. “But over there my mom always keep telling us different age, I do not remember what specific age, I always keep her asking like what is the specific age that I was born, and she has told me that she could not remember.”

The officiant, Valerie Currie, eventually ruled that Nicola be detained because he was a flight risk. She also said she did not believe that Nicola was being honest in saying that he didn’t know his true age.

“You have misrepresented yourself and you have been untruthful in order to achieve your goals and that shows considerable disrespect for the laws of Canada, specifically the immigration laws of Canada,” Currie said. “Those circumstances suggests to me that you are a person who cannot be trusted to comply with the laws of Canada.”

An Immigration Refugee Board has since determined that Nicola should remain in detention until a May 24 hearing. During his first hearing, Nicola said he has had suicidal thoughts while under arrest and would like to return to South Sudan to be reunited with his mother.

Nicola is 6-foot-9 and helped the Catholic Central team advance to the second round of the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association playoffs this season.

South Sudan's new Vice President Riek Machar, center-left, walked with President Salva Kiir, center-right, after being sworn in at the presidential palace in Juba. — South Sudan’s new Vice President Riek Machar, center-left, walked with President Salva Kiir, center-right, after being sworn in at the presidential palace in Juba.

Juba, South Sudan — Peace doves that had remained in their cages for more than a week were released Tuesday, as South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar set foot in Juba for the first time in more than two years. Mr. Machar was then whisked to meet President Salva Kiir – until recently his opponent in the country’s bitter civil war – and was inaugurated as first vice president.

Machar’s return is crucial for ending the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 2.3 million since it began in 2013, just two and a half years after South Sudan gained independence in 2011. He had been expected in Juba last Monday, but disputes over the number of troops he was traveling with and the types of weapons they were allowed to carry delayed his arrival.

The eight-day wait tested the patience of many, and is a fraught beginning to this new chapter in South Sudan’s history.

For South Sudanese, the daily delays were a stressful teaser. Some doubted Machar would return at all. For the international community, they represented the intransigence of both sides, calling into question the millions of dollars and years of diplomacy spent trying to achieve peace.

“What is surprising for me is not that the implementation of the peace process has stalled, but that anyone is surprised that it has stalled. There is very little good faith on the two sides and certainly very little trust in each other” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, in an interview on the organization’s website.

Five years ago, the international community was eager to assist the newly independent South Sudan. But today, diplomats have become fed up with both sides.

South Sudan is experiencing a crippling economic crisis, and one of the first tasks of the unity government will be negotiating a financial rescue package from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Diplomats talk of a “new normal” in relationships to the government, where donors scale back financial assistance and offer aid only with conditions, such as increasing funding to health and education services.

Some say that the current peace deal doesn’t address the drivers of the conflict.

“Forming a government with the same actors responsible for the collapse of the economy and atrocities holds open the possibility that grand corruption will return to its pre-war patterns,” says John Prendergast, founding director of the Enough Project.

Indeed, the task for Kiir and Machar will be to manage not only their fraught relationship, but the extremists in each of their camps who have an interest in stopping the deal. Yet on Tuesday, those partisans did not make an appearance.

Instead, President Kiir apologized to the people of South Sudan and the international community.

“We acknowledge there are unresolved indues related to the [peace] agreement, but I promise we will resolve those issues amicably,” Kiir said, looking out from under his signature cowboy hat.

The cowboy hat has become a staple of Kiir’s wardrobe, after he first received it as a gift from President George W. Bush. In 2005, Mr. Bush was instrumental in securing the independence of South Sudan.

Perhaps a signal that the support of the international community is more important than individual grudges, Machar made a notable fashion choice as he arrived in Juba.

Like Kiir, he sported what appeared to be an American cowboy hat — perhaps an ode to the international support that South Sudan needs now more than ever.

Juba (AFP) – South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar’s highly-anticipated return to the capital Juba, to take up the role of vice president, was delayed on Monday, his spokesman said, citing “logistical reasons”.

“We are committed to the peace agreement, but there have been logistical issues and the first vice president, Riek Machar, will come tomorrow,” spokesman William Ezekiel said.

Machar’s return to Juba and swearing-in as President Salva Kiir’s deputy will mark an important step in a floundering August 2015 deal to end the country’s civil war.

The agreement is seen as the best hope yet for ending more than two years of fighting that have left the world’s youngest nation in chaos and pushed it to the brink of famine.

Machar previously served as Kiir’s deputy until he was fired just months before the start of war in December 2013.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a conflict marked by numerous atrocities, with more than two million forced from their homes and nearly six million in need of emergency food aid.

The war broke out in December 2013 when Kiir accused Machar of planning a coup, claims he denied, triggering a cycle of retaliatory killings that divided the desperately poor country along ethnic lines.

The rebel leader was expected to arrive in Juba Monday from his tribal stronghold of Pagak in the east of the country, but despite the latest hitch spokesman Ezekiel said the rebels remain committed to peace.

“We are here to implement all the peace agreement. We have been missing deadlines but we will fulfil in the end,” he said.

– Red carpet no-show –

The red carpet had been rolled out at Juba’s airport on Monday morning, the sentries lined up and the dignitaries were assembling when Machar’s no-show was announced, disappointing many for whom his arrival marks a major tangible step towards peace.

Overnight, posters welcoming Machar, some reading “Reconciling, uniting the nation,” had been torn down, said Ezekiel.

Machar’s arrival will be a milestone in the peace process but experts warn that implementing the deal will be a long and arduous task.

“It will allow the formation of the transitional government, the most significant step in the implementation of the peace agreement,” said Casie Copeland from the International Crisis Group think tank, while warning warned that the conflict would likely continue.

Several militias, driven by local agendas or revenge, do not obey either Machar’s or Kiir’s commands.

Tensions are high ahead of Machar’s return. A 1,370-strong armed rebel force arrived in Juba this month as part of the peace deal, while the government says all but 3,420 of its troops have withdrawn from the city.

The opposing forces are based in camps scattered in and around the capital, while other forces are not allowed within a 25 kilometre (15 mile) radius of Juba.

The army has denied opposition claims that it has secretly returned truckloads of its troops to the capital.

The UN has 11,000 peacekeeping troops in South Sudan, many of them guarding the 185,000 civilians who have spent the past 28 months inside UN bases, too afraid to leave in case they are attacked.

Both the government and rebel forces have been accused of perpetrating ethnic massacres, recruiting and killing children and carrying out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to “cleanse” areas of their opponents.

– ‘Armed to the teeth’ –

“Both sides are armed to the teeth… should fighting break out this time in Juba, we should expect prolonged battles in the city,” Jacob Akol, a veteran South Sudanese journalist Jacob Akol, wrote in an editorial for the Gurtong peace project.

Machar — who last year said it was not possible to have peace while Kiir remained in power — is now due to arrive Tuesday and is expected to be swiftly sworn in at the presidential palace.

African Union representative Alpha Oumar Konare, a former president of Mali, and Festus Mogae, a former Botswanan president who heads the international ceasefire monitoring team, are expected at the ceremony.

Mogae, who is typically upbeat about developments in the fractured nation, has already warned that the “formation of a new government will not in itself be a panacea”.

South Sudan rebel chief’s return delayed

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