Page 11 - aruba-today-20200111

A11
WORLD NEWS Saturday 11 January 2020

In this Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 file photo, South Sudan's First Vice
President Taban Deng Gai addresses the 73rd session of the
United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters.
Associated Press
U.S. sanctions Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat waives during his farewell speech as Labour Party leader

South Sudan's vice in Kordin, near Valletta, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. A new leader will be elected during the weekend.
Associated Press
president over abuses Malta's PM on way out: I paid

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The President Salva Kiir to form price for reporter's slaying
United States on Wednes- a coalition government
day imposed sanctions with Machar as deputy.
on South Sudan's First Vice A deadline for that looms By STEPHEN CALLEJA leader. ment by upholding the rule
President Taban Deng Gai, next month after the par- Associated Press Wildly cheered by La- of law.
citing his involvement in se- ties failed to make one in VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — bor members during his But each candidate has
rious human rights abuses. November. Malta's prime minister told speech, Muscat said he stopped short of criticiz-
It is one of the sharpest More than 50 days into the the nation Friday night that would remain in Parliament ing Muscat even as they
actions taken by the U.S. 100-day extension, the U.S. he had paid "the highest and keep working to im- promise to heal the coun-
against South Sudan's gov- statement said, "there have political price for a dark prove human rights. During try's reputation. Labor has
ernment amid Washing- been no concrete steps to episode," a reference to his tenure, the government a comfortable majority in
ton's frustration over the create the security condi- the assassination of an in- introduced legal same-sex Parliament.
country's failure to achieve tions conducive to imple- vestigative journalist whose marriage. Concerned European
a stable peace after its civil menting a peace deal." work targeted his govern- In his remark about paying Union lawmakers who vis-
war. It added that the U.S. "will ment and whose death led a personal political price ited Malta after the jour-
The Treasury Department continue to apply pressure to demands for his resigna- for "a dark episode," he nalist's slaying expressed
statement asserted that on the senior leadership of tion. did not directly mention concerns about the func-
Deng was involved in South Sudan to take con- In a farewell address to his the journalist's killing. He tioning of the tiny island
the disappearance and crete measures to bring Labor Party, Prime Minister said that once he realized nation's police and judicial
deaths of human rights peace and stability to the Joseph Muscat said he was he could no longer ensure systems.
lawyer Samuel Dong Luak country." "hurt" by what Daphne Ca- his presence in office was Three men have been
and opposition member The U.S., which backed the ruana Galizia wrote when "positive" for Malta, he de- charged with murder for al-
Aggrey Idry in 2017. It also fight for South Sudan's in- she was alive, "but I did not cided to quit. legedly triggering the pow-
asserted that he has acted dependence from Sudan, suffer as much as her fam- His promise to step down erful car bomb that killed
to divide the armed oppo- achieved in 2011, has been ily did" when a bomb blew failed to quell anti-gov- 53-year-old Caruana Gal-
sition in South Sudan, ex- increasingly frustrated by up her car and killed her in ernment protests by Mal- izia as she drove near her
tending the country's five- the inability of Kiir and 2017. tese angry over links be- home on Oct. 16, 2017. No
year civil war that killed Machar to reach a lasting "I am sorry for what hap- tween Muscat's office and trial date has been set.
nearly 400,000 people. peace. Meanwhile, the pened" to Caruana Gal- the bomb blast that killed Days before Muscat an-
In a response to the U.S. government faces wide- izia, Muscat added without Caruana Galizia, whose nounced he was stepping
announcement, the press spread accusations by crit- referring to his former chief anti-corruption reporting down both as party leader
secretary for Deng, Agel ics of mismanagement and of staff being questioned targeted members of the and prime minister, his chief
Machar, told The Associ- corruption. and under investigation in government. of staff, Keith Schembri, was
ated Press the sanctions "Today's action represents the slaying. A deputy premier and a arrested and questioned in
"are as unfortunate as they a significant and important Muscat, who is halfway lawmaker in his party are connection with Caruana
are misplaced," noting his ratcheting up of U.S. finan- through his second term, vying to replace him. The Galizia's killing.
former role as chief peace cial pressure designed to announced on Dec. 1 that one picked to be Labor's Schembri was later re-
negotiator for the armed break the impasse in South he would resign as leader new leader in a party elec- leased but remains under
opposition. Sudan and hold those im- of the ruling Labor Party tion on Saturday will be- investigation.
Deng also has willingly ac- peding peace account- and prime minister amid come prime minister, and On Nov. 30, a day before
cepted to step aside from able," John Prendergast, increasing demands at Muscat will step aside as Muscat told the nation
his role as first vice presi- co-founder of The Sentry, home and abroad for ac- premier within days. he would leave office, a
dent for the sake of peace, said in a statement. The countability in the assassi- Both candidates — Deputy prominent Maltese busi-
the press secretary said, to Washington-based inves- nation. Prime Minister Chris Fearne nessman, Yorgen Fenech,
make way for opposition tigative group has often He delayed his resignation and lawmaker Robert Abe- was arraigned on charges
leader Riek Machar. reported on alleged cor- by six weeks to let the La- la — say they will work to re- that included complicity in
The U.S. is among the coun- ruption by South Sudanese bor Party go through the gain the Maltese people's the murder. He has plead-
tries pressuring Machar and officials.q process of electing a new confidence in the govern- ed innocent. q