UN Food Supplies into Sudan’s Famine-threatened Darfur Stranded
A key supply route into Sudan’s Darfur region, deemed at risk of famine by experts, has been cut off due to heavy rains, a World Food Programme official said on Thursday while another U.N. official said refugees had been driven to eating grass. WFP’s Country Director Eddie Rowe told Reuters thousands of tons of aid are stranded at the Tina crossing on the Chad border, prompting the body to reopen talks with the army-aligned government to open an alternative, all-weather crossing further south called Adre…WFP is now seeking clearances to move a large 70-truck convoy via a little-used, over 1000-km (620-mile) route from Port Sudan to Darfur which Rowe said will involve crossing the battle lines of both the Sudan Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces and various militias. He added that this mostly desert route had worked in the past but outside of the rainy season and that the last journey took weeks and was “fraught with a lot of challenges”. The U.S. on Thursday pledged an additional $203 million to the U.N.’s response in the country, which Rowe said remains underfunded. Reuters
UAE President Discusses Peace Efforts in Sudan with Army’s Burhan
The United Arab Emirates’ president and the head of Sudan’s army have discussed an offer from Ethiopia’s leader to mediate in Sudan’s 15-month-old war, diplomatic sources said. It was the first public communication between the two leaders since the army began publicly criticising the UAE over its alleged support for its rival in the war, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The UAE denies the allegations although U.N. experts have said they are credible. The allegations surfaced in a fiery back-and-forth at the U.N. Security Council in June. Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Thursday that in the call UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan “affirmed the UAE’s keenness to support all solutions and initiatives aimed at halting escalation and ending the crisis in Sudan”. Though some in Sudan felt the call was overdue, hawkish Islamists who form an important support base for the army have rejected mediation efforts and are wary of the UAE role, analysts say. Reuters
Inside Sudan, Devastating Warfare Forces Desperate Choices
A team of Washington Post journalists visited five Sudanese cities last month in areas controlled by the armed forces, interviewing dozens of people and chronicling their lives. Most of the interviews were conducted in the presence of military or intelligence officials, and some people were inhibited in what they would discuss. In the emergency wards, the hennaed hands of mothers fanned the twig-like ribcages of babies struggling for breath, and other parents told of sleeping children killed in their beds when artillery shells crashed into their neighborhoods. Prisoners and soldiers alike spoke of young men shot far from home, their corpses decaying in the heat, before they were flung in unmarked graves…“I still believe democracy is coming,” [activist Mahmoud Abdirahman] said, a mural commemorating dead protesters on a wall behind him. “After the war, we will go back on the streets and fight the winner. And we will keep fighting until democracy wins.” The Washington Post
White House Welcomes 15-day DR Congo Humanitarian Truce Extension
A humanitarian truce in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been extended by 15 days until 11.59 p.m. local time on Aug. 3, the White House said on Wednesday, amid efforts to end the conflict between government troops and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. North Kivu province has been battling the M23 insurgency for more than two years as well as other militia violence…Rwanda accuses Congo of financing and fighting alongside a Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has attacked Tutsis in both countries. M23 says it is fighting to protect Tutsis from rivals like FDLR, whose ranks include Hutu extremists who fled to Congo after participating in the 1994 genocide targeting Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda. Reuters
Turkey, Niger Agree to Enhance Energy, Defence Cooperation
Turkey and Niger agreed to boost cooperation on energy, mining, intelligence and defence, after the West African nation asked Western military personnel to leave and terminated the mining contracts of many Western countries. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, along with Defence Minister Yasar Guler, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and head of the MIT intelligence agency Ibrahim Kalin visited Niger’s capital Niamey on Wednesday. As well as their ministerial counterparts, the Turkish delegation met with Niger’s leader General Abdourahmane Tiani, who took power in July last year after the military council he leads ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and shifted the country’s allegiances…The Turkish ministers’ visit to Niamey comes two months after Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. On Wednesday, Turkish and Niger officials discussed improving cooperation in defence intelligence, Fidan told reporters after their talks. A Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday that Guler discussed ways to enhance cooperation between Turkey and Niger in defence and military training. Reuters
A Kenyan Court Suspends a Police Ban on Protests in Nairobi
A Kenyan court on Thursday suspended a police ban on protests in the capital, stating that citizens have a right to demonstrate peacefully. Before the high court’s decision, police had barred protests in Nairobi indefinitely, saying they lacked leadership that would ensure peaceful demonstrations. The suspension came before a planned protest, in which demonstrators were expected to march to the president’s office calling for his resignation over poor governance. Acting police inspector general, Douglas Kanja, in a statement said the lack of leadership had “made it difficult to enforce safety protocols”…Kenya has seen a month of protests that started with calls for legislators to vote against a controversial finance bill that was proposing higher taxes amidst a cost-of-living crisis and ballooning public debt. At least 50 people have died since the protests began on June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. AP
Under Attack: Kenyan Journalist Takes 3 Rubber Bullets, Burkina Faso Satirist Kidnapped by Armed Men
A journalist in Kenya was shot with rubber bullets three times while covering protests this week, and in Burkina Faso, a columnist critical of the military regime was kidnapped. Catherine Wanjeri wa Kariuki, who works for works for Kameme TV, was shot in Kenya’s Nakuru County on Tuesday while covering the now almost month-long protests against the Kenyan government. She was fired on despite “being well identified and visibly branded”, said David Omwoyo Omwoyo the chief executive officer of the Media Council of Kenya (MCK). A video of the incident was posted online and the shots that hit her seemed to have come from a moving police vehicle. In a statement, Angela Quintal, head of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Africa programme said that the Kenyan police should be tasked with protecting journalists instead of attacking them…In Burkina Faso, Alain Traoré, a satirical columnist for private radio station Omega was taken from his home by three masked armed men who claimed to be from the National Intelligence Agency (ANR). He has been missing since 13 July. Traoré is the fourth journalist to disappear in the space of a month after Serge Atiana Oulon, Kalifara Séré, and Adama Bayala. Quintal said since the kidnapping was linked to the security forces, they were responsible for his safe return. News24
Nigeria: 263 Boko Haram Insurgents Surrender in One Week – Official
No fewer than 263 Boko Haram insurgents and their families have surrendered to the troops of Sector I of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Cameroon. This is contained in a statement issued by Abubakar Abdullahi, the Chief Military Public Information Officer of MNJTF in N’djamena, Chad. He said that the insurgents surrendered between 11 July and 17 July, during the ongoing Operation Lake Sanity II. “The wave of surrenders began on July 1, when five terrorists surrendered to MNJTF troops in Wulgo, on the Nigeria-Cameroon border…Mr Abdullahi, a lieutenant colonel, said that preliminary investigation revealed that all the surrendered individuals belonged to Nigerian communities. News Agency of Nigeria
CAR Officials Say 300 Rebels Disarm as Country Tries to Organize Local Elections
Officials in the Central African Republic say at least 300 rebels have dropped their weapons in the past month in an operation jointly organized by United Nations peacekeeping forces and government troops. Yet, while a total of about 5,000 fighters have put down their arms in the past decade, peace seems to elude the troubled nation. Officials in the country say the rebels who have dropped their weapons since June 10 belong to the Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement, or CPC. The government sees the CPC as a network of six rebel groups created in 2020 to disrupt the country’s presidential and legislative elections in December of that year…This week, forces of the U.N. stabilization movement in the Central African Republic, or MINUSCA, said an additional 44 fighters of another rebel group, the UPC, laid down their arms in the southeastern town of Mboki. MINUSCA said many weapons were seized but gave no further details. Central African Republic officials say the operation to neutralize armed groups or get fighters to surrender is aimed at making the country more peaceful before local elections slated for October. These would be the first local elections in the country since 1988. VOA
Human Rights Abuses in CAR Detention Centres Need Urgent Response: UN Experts
Immediate action is needed to address human rights abuses in detention centres across the Central African Republic (CAR) according to a new UN report released on Thursday. The report highlights torture of inmates, ill-treatment, arbitrary and illegal arrest and detention, malnutrition and poor healthcare. Thousands are being held in overcrowded facilities across CAR with little access to basics like food, water, sanitation and healthcare. This alarming situation is detailed in the report by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA)…By the end of 2023, 1,749 people were in detention awaiting trial, some for nearly six years. It raises concerns that detention orders were issued without sufficient examination of whether incarceration was necessary and proportionate to the crimes many were charged with, the report highlighted. UN Info
Eswatini’s Pro-democracy Movement Undeterred as MPs Sentenced to Prison
The sentencing Tuesday in Eswatini of two former members of parliament to lengthy prison terms on charges of terrorism marks a significant escalation in the tensions between the monarchy and those advocating for democratic reform in the southern African nation. Human rights groups condemned the convictions, saying the court decision raises questions about human rights and political repression. Pro-democracy activists say they are undeterred. The convictions of Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, who were sentenced to prison terms of 25 and 18 years respectively, sent shock waves throughout Eswatini and the international community. The two men were arrested in July 2021 during pro-democracy protests that were violently put down by security forces, leaving dozens of people dead. Demonstrators were pressing for reforms to a complex system of non-party elections that ensured Eswatini’s ruler, King Mswati the third, faced no meaningful dissent. VOA
Elon Musk’s Starlink Struggles with Regulations in Africa
Starlink, a unit of [Elon] Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, has faced numerous regulatory obstacles in Africa. The company has been blocked from approval in seven countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, South Africa, and Senegal…With more than half of Africa’s population living in rural regions, there might have been an expectation that satellite broadband would be attractive to governments trying to connect all their citizens. But Musk hasn’t shown much inclination to work directly with African governments, including in his country of birth. In South Africa, Starlink still needs to meet a licensing requirement that mandates a 30% ownership of a telecom company from historically disadvantaged groups…Regulators across the continent are worried about Starlink because they want control over the content being shared, industry analysts say. This has been a recurring theme of concern for African governments since the rise of the internet and, in particular, social media. Starlink’s satellites have no physical infrastructure or official presence in the countries, meaning it isn’t possible to turn off the internet. Similarly, Starlink can’t be held responsible by governments for content transmitted over the signals. Officials are also concerned about the company reaching their citizens without paying taxes or regulatory fees…And the one set of consumers who might benefit from satellite services are rural dwellers, who are often the poorest people across Africa and the least likely to be able to afford a premium priced service like Starlink. Semafor
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Publish date : 2024-07-19 15:16:18
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