World Tour: Steps to peace in Sudan and Afghanistan

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Africa correspondent Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Power-sharing in Sudan—We start today here in Africa.

AUDIO: Sudan celebrating

Crowds took to the streets of Khartoum on Sunday to celebrate a peace deal between Sudan’s military leaders and protesters.  The power-sharing agreement ends months of protests calling for a civilian government.

Under the deal, the military and a pro-democracy coalition agreed to form a joint sovereign council. It will rule the country for three years until officials can organize elections.

AUDIO: General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in Arabic [fade under]

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo promised supporters he would fully implement the terms of the agreement.

Both sides said a diplomatic push by the U-S and its Arab allies helped to end the weeks-long standoff and avoid an all-out civil war.

War crimes conviction—Next we go to the Netherlands. The International Criminal Court convicted a former African rebel leader of war crimes.

AUDIO: The Chamber, having heard all of the evidence presented by the parties finds you, as concerns count one, guilty of murder as crime against humanity.

Bosco Ntaganda was known as “the Terminator” during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s decades-long civil war. He routinely ordered the mass killing, rape, and enslavement of civilians.

The international criminal court found him guilty on 18 counts of crimes against humanity committed between 2002 and 2003. The verdict paves the way for thousands of victims to claim reparations.

North Korea releases Australian—Next we go to Asia.

AUDIO: Australian reporters, handler

An Australian man jailed briefly in North Korea arrived safely in Japan last week after gaining his freedom.

North Korean officials arrested Alex Sigley on June 25th. They accused him of spying.

Sigley ran a tour company while studying at a North Korean university. Officials in Pyongyang accused him of giving reporters information about life in the secretive country.

The official North Korean news agency reported that Sigley confessed to his alleged crime before being released.

Fresh protests in Hong Kong—Next to Hong Kong where protests erupted again over the weekend.

AUDIO: Hong Kong protests

Carrie Lam, the city’s top leader, tried again on Tuesday to quell anger over the extradition bill that sparked the protests last month. The bill would have allowed prisoners to be sent to mainland China for trial.

Lam insisted the bill is dead.

LAM: I now readily welcome and agree to do this open dialogue with our student representatives and we will follow up. I hope this dialogue will be conducted without any prerequisites, on my part or on the part of the students.

But protest leaders aren’t satisfied.

LEUNG: The extradition bill being put in the Legislative Council is a very formal legal proceeding. However, she only said that the bill ‘is dead’. We cannot find the word ‘dead’ in any of the laws in Hong Kong or any of the legal proceedings in the Legislative Council.

Pro-democracy activists vowed to continue protesting Beijing’s attempts to tighten control over Hong Kong.

Peace talks in Afghanistan—And finally, we end today with some good news from Afghanistan.

AUDIO: Afghani leaders walking, camera shutters clicking

Two days of talks with the Taliban ended Tuesday with a statement that seems to bring the country closer to peace.

The statement pledges a “roadmap for peace” that includes assurances for women’s rights under an Islamic legal system. It also vows to guarantee equality for all ethnic groups. But the statement does not include an immediate cease-fire agreement.

The U.S. envoy to Afghanistan said the final agreement would call for an end to ongoing fighting. That would allow the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country.

A final deal could be in place as early as September.

That’s this week’s World Tour. For WORLD Radio, I’m Onize Ohikere, reporting from Abuja, Nigeria.

(AP Photo/File) Sudanese people celebrate in the streets of Khartoum after ruling generals and protest leaders announced they have reached an agreement on the disputed issue of a new governing body. 

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