Sudan and South Sudan: 5 key political stories

A roundup of a few key stories from the past week on political issues in Sudan and South Sudan:

A roundup of a few key stories from the past week on political issues in Sudan and South Sudan:

South Sudan’s president responds to sanctions threat: Bring it on (Radio Tamazuj, 18 March 2015) – President Salva Kiir declared today during his first public rally since the failure of peace talks earlier this month that he is not intimidated by the ‘stick’ of sanctions waved by Western powers, saying “let them hit.”

Pagan Amum says President Kiir’s speech “unfortunate” (Radio Tamazuj, 20 March 2015) – The former SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum has described the recent public address by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir as “unfortunate”.

Atem Zachariah says Ngok Dinka are originally Sudanese (Radio Tamazuj, 19 March 2015) – Zachariah Atem, prominent NCP member and Ngok Dinka leader in Khartoum, says that his tribe is originally Sudanese and its homeland Ayei belongs to Sudan.

Konga warns Equatorians may take up arms in response to insecurity (Radio Tamazuj,18 March 2015) – Governor of Central Equatoria State (CES) Clement Wani Konga warned in a speech on Tuesday that insecurity could provoke a response from Equatorians.

Kiir loyalists declare security bill to be law (Radio Tamazuj, 16 March 2015) – Loyalists of President Salva Kiir have sought to resolve confusion over the status of the National Security Service Act of 2014 by declaring it to be law, in spite of challenges last year that the bill never passed parliament with quorum owing to a walkout by the Equatorian Caucus.