Africa

Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah wins the 2018 BBC Africa Footballer of the Year award.

Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is voted the BBC African Footballer of the Year 2018.

It took five weeks of round-the-clock treatment to keep Benedicte alive after her mother died.

At least 11 people are reported killed in Baidoa following the arrest of a former al-Shabab chief.

Three Africa-based players make the 10-man shortlist for this year's Confederation of African Football (Caf) Men's Player of the Year awards.

The Ivorian Football Federation appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against an alleged decision by Caf to strip the country of the 2021 Nations Cup.

Born in London, raised in Dublin and now a Tunisia international, Ayman Ben Mohamed has travelled an unusual road to this month's Fifa Club World Cup.

The US national security adviser says they are using underhand methods to expand their influence.

The Egypt FA now says it is interested in bidding to stage the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, pending government approval.

Lolu Tenabe is one of the only female superbike riders in Nigeria.

Ethiopia brings together the more than 80 national or ethnic groups that live in the country in a celebration of diversity.

Claudiah Wanjiru says that after a difficult journey her scars have made her beautiful.

Joseph Warungu says the struggle for gender equality in Kenyan politics is failing on many fronts.

Five years ago, Daniel lost everything to Ebola. Now he's training to become a doctor.

Foreign navies have played a key role in curbing piracy off Somalia's coast, writes the BBC's Anne Soy.

Six survivors speak about how a day of revelry turned into tragedy in Uganda as a party boat sank.

December 7, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir on Saturday would travel to Addis Ababa to participate in the Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities and People's Day celebration amid speculation that the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki will also be there.

In January 2018, Sudan accused Eritrea of supporting rebel groups and closed the border after the deployment of thousands of troops. Four months later, Asmara accused Sudan, Ethiopia and Qatar of supporting armed opposition groups to overthrow President Isaias Afewerki's government.

But in July, Ethiopia and Eritrea reconciled and normalized relations between the two neighbouring countries.

The participation of President Afwerki in Ethiopia's celebration will be the first of its kind since the two countries resumed formal relations following two decades of rupture.

However, it is not certain that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, will be able to bring al-Bashir and Afwerki together on the sidelines of the celebration.

It is noteworthy that Ahmed has launched several initiatives to give Asmara a way to come in from the cold as he mediated between Afwerki and leaders of Somalia and Djibouti.

Last September the IGAD Council of Minister said it would discuss the normalization of relations between Djibouti and Eritrea; and between Eritrea and Sudan. However, the east African bloc did not make any mention to the matter in it its statement after the meeting of 12 September.

Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria with over 100 million inhabitants who are distributed among 83 nationalities.

It has decided to celebrate Nations, Nationalities and People's Day on 9 December since 2005, to commemorate the day of the ratification of the nations' constitution.

The day serves as an important forum for nations, nationalities and people's to show their culture, know each other and show unity and strong solidarity for peace.

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December 7, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - A group of Sudanese refugees have organized a sit-in in front of the UN Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters in the Ghanaian capital, Accra to protest against the latter's refusal to issue their refugee documents.

One of the protesters, Hib al-Din Mohamed said 764 Sudanese refugees including women and children have arrived in Ghana 6 years ago, pointing out that UNHCR refused to issue them refugee identification cards.

“I arrived in Ghana in 2014 after crossing six countries. However, the UNHCR refused to issue me a refugee ID which made me suffer from housing, food and health care problems” he said

He added the Sudanese refugees are facing great suffering, saying some of them have taken refuge at a nearby mosque.

Another refugee, Mohamed Salah, told Sudan Tribune that last week they decided to organize a sit-in in front of the UNHCR premises and submit a memo including their demands, pointing out that the refugees came from the war-affected areas in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

He said the first batch of Sudanese refugees had arrived in Ghana in 2004, pointing out that they were granted the right for resettlement in the U.S. and Canada.

Salah added the resettlement programme has stopped since 2009, saying the UN doesn't currently provide them with any kind of assistance.

Salah also said the UN has rejected the cases of 25 Sudanese refugees six months ago.

“However, when we met with the UNHCR officials, they denied that they turned down the application even though we had shown them the denial letters,” he said

He accused the UNHCR of discriminating against the Sudanese refugees, saying it has granted refugee status to 300 Syrians who arrived from Egypt and other refugee holding Sudanese passports.

Salah added the Syrian refugees were granted refugee status within 6 months and large numbers of them have been resettled in Canada, U.S. and Europe.

“I don't know what is the difference between us and the Syrians and why they differentiate between the refugees in this inhumane manner,” he said

He added that a Sudanese refugee had died since several months due to lack of health care, saying there are large numbers of sick people who don't have money to get medical treatment.

He added the Ghanian authorities treat the Sudanese refugees better than the UNHCR, saying the sit-in has been carried out peacefully.

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December 6, 2018 (JUBA) - The People's Democratic Movement (PDM) distanced itself from the ongoing rift within the South Sudan Opposition Alliance and denounced fraudulent involvement of its name in this matter.

"PDM would like to condemn the fraudulent use of PDM's good name by both Ms Josephine Lagu Yanga and Mr Anas Richard Zanga, the duo are not members of PDM and are not known to be registered members of PDM," said Hakim Dario the PDM leader in a statement to Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

The PDM is one of several groups that rejected the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement and split from the SSOA under the leadership of Gabriel Changson.

Now, the former SSOA holdout factions including, the PDM, formed a new umbrella called the South Sudan National Democratic Alliance (SSNDA).

Dario recalled that Josephine Lagu was expelled from PDM before R-ARCSS was signed on 12th September 2018 while Anas Richard Zanga was never known to be a member of PDM, he said.

"The public should know that these individuals are fraudulent, masquerading as PDM factions, brought on as convenient substitutes by Mr Gabriel Changson and Dr Lam Akol, promising them with R-ARCSS government positions for their support to R-ARCSS of which PDM is not a signatory".

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Pre-Negotiation Agreement for the Resumption of the Peace Process in Darfur

The Government of Sudan (GoS), Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM/A) and Justice and Equality Movement Sudan (JEM) (the "Parties") reaffirm their commitment to achieving a negotiated resolution and durable peace for Darfur and declare their determination to create the conditions conducive for a sustainable resolution of the conflict, as envisioned in the Roadmap Agreement (signed on 8 August 2016).

Upon signing this agreement, the Parties commit themselves to conduct a credible peace process and to resume comprehensive peace talks on the following conditions:

• The Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) shall be considered the basis of future negotiations, on condition that all the issues that the movements deem instrumental to any sustainable and lasting peace, shall be open for negotiation towards reaching agreement(s), and that all parties agree to establish and create new and independent implementation mechanisms, and to negotiate the modalities of such mechanisms.

• The parties agree to enter into negotiations on substantive issues upon signature of this pre-negotiation agreement. Discussions on substantive issues shall be preceded by a Cessation of Hostilities agreement.

• In the course of the Cessation of Hostilities (COH) negotiations, the parties agree to address outstanding issues relevant to the COH.

• The AU-UN Joint Chief Mediator (as mandated by the UN Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council), and the Government of Qatar (as mandated by the Arab League), and the AUHIP (as mandated by the AU Peace and Security Council and as set forth in the AUHIP Roadmap Agreement) will work together to mediate the Darfur peace process with clearly defined and distinct roles and responsibilities for each.

• The Parties will request international entities - including Germany, the United States of America, United Kingdom, Norway, France, the European Union, the Arab League, and IGAD - to be observers and/or guarantors.

• Upon agreement on the principles set forth above, the Parties commit to resume talks, in Doha, commencing with establishing a framework to structure the process.

• The negotiations will be between GoS and JEM and SLM/A. Any additional parties will be allowed in with the consent of all three parties.