Africa

Seventeen-year-old Victoline explores progress to tackle the disease in her home country, Kenya.

Remembering iconic trombonist and exiled anti-apartheid activist Jonas Gwangwa who has died aged 83.

Violence and insecurity related to the recent elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) has forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes in less than two months, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday, warning tens of thousands are facing dire living conditions. 

The top UN official in Libya urged the Security Council on Thursday to express clear support for a new unified government in Libya, amid hopeful signs that a decade of armed conflict might finally be coming to an end.

A phone call in the middle of the night led one Swiss lawyer to pursue Nigeria's stolen money.

The handover of a former Central African Republic (CAR) militia leader and war crimes suspect to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has sent a strong warning to rebel groups, political actors and others who thrive on impunity, a UN independent human rights expert said on Wednesday. 

Three months since fighting began in Ethiopia’s northern state of Tigray, there’s grave concern for the plight of youngsters there, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF has warned.

The deal aims to increase the relatively low trade between African countries.

African basketball stars discuss Kobe Bryant's legacy one year since his death in a helicopter crash.

UN agencies are ramping up efforts on Tuesday to help communities in Mozambique hit hard by Tropical Cyclone Eloise, which barrelled through the country just three weeks after the devastating Tropical Storm Chalane. 

The BBC's Andrew Harding has returned to Mogadishu to see what hopes people have for peace.

January 23, 2021 (JUBA) – South Sudan's ruling Sudan's Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) has ordered for the appointment of the acting SPLM Interim State Secretary for Upper Nile State.

SPLM Acting Secretary General Jemma Nunu Kumba (File Photo ST)

The order is dated in January 20 letter issued by the acting SPLM Secretary General, Jemma Nunu Kumba.

“In exercise of the power conferred upon me under Article 28 (1) (m) of the SPLM Constitution 2008 (as amended in 2016), I, Cde Jemma Nunu Kumba, Acting Secretary General of the SPLM, do hereby issue this order for the appointment of the Acting SPLM Interim State Secretary for Upper Nile State,” the letter read in part.

In June last year, President Salva Kiir and the First Vice-President, Riek Machar reached a deal on the allocation of the country's 10 states after three months of discussions.

The armed opposition (SPLM-IO), led by Riek Machar, was given three states, including Upper Nile, where the appointment of a governor is still pending.

The SPLM-IO nominated General Johnson Olony as governor of Upper Nile.

Kiir, however, rejected the SPLM-IO nominee, describing him a “war monger” and asked the First Vice-President to write an undertaking to take responsibility if Olony breaks the truce.

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A young woman scientist in Burkina Faso is researching the role of micro-organisms in fighting desertification in the Sahel Region, as part of a UN programme to restore degraded land in Africa.

Against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Mali and the wider Sahel region, the UN peacekeeping chief concluded a visit to the restive northwest African nation on Thursday. 

A sharp uptick in intercommunal violence in Sudan’s Darfur region has forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in search of safety, including many into neighbouring Chad, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Friday.

January 21, 2021 (JUBA) - The United Nations has urged “zero tolerance” policy and called on all parties to prohibit the use of sexual violence and cease hostilities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Pattern said there has been a high number of reported rapes in the Tigray's capital, Mekelle and reports that some women are being forced by military elements to have sex in exchange for basic commodities.

“I am greatly concerned by serious allegations of sexual violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital, Mekelle. There are also disturbing reports of individuals allegedly forced to rape members of their own family, under threats of imminent violence,” said Patten.

She added, “It remains critical that humanitarian actors and independent human rights monitors be granted immediate, unconditional and sustained access to the entirety of the Tigray region, including IDP [internally displaced people] and refugee camps where new arrivals have allegedly reported cases of sexual violence”.

According to the UN, 59,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan, while some 5,000 Eritrean refugees are living in “dire” conditions in the area of Shire. The U.N. says 25 of the refugees are women and girls of reproductive age.

“I call on all parties involved in the hostilities in the Tigray region to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual violence, in line with their respective obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law,” Patten said.

“I call on the government of Ethiopia to further exercise its due diligence obligations to protect all civilians from sexual and other violence, regardless of their ethnic origin and those displaced by conflict, and to promptly allow for an independent inquiry into all allegations of sexual and other forms of violence, to establish the facts and hold perpetrators accountable, provide redress to victims, and prevent further grave violations.”

While commenting on the monitoring and investigation missions recently conducted by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Western Tigray and the Amhara region, the UN official called on the Ethiopian government to further exercise its due diligence obligations to protect all civilians from sexual and other violence, regardless of their ethnic origin and those displaced by conflict.

Patten also urged authorities to promptly allow for an independent inquiry into all allegations of sexual and other forms of violence, to establish the facts and hold perpetrators accountable, provide redress to victims, and prevent further grave violations.

On November 4 2020, the Ethiopian government launched a “law enforcement operation” against the leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the region's ruling party, after TPLF fighters attacked a federal military base. TPLF leaders called the federal government's response a war against the people of Tigray.

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January 21, 2021 (NEW YORK) – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is working with authorities to establish a temporary operating base in the greater Tonj area of Warrap State to reduce tensions and build confidence, a UN official said Thursday.

Map of South Sudan showing Warrap state in red

The move comes amid reports of sporadic intercommunal conflict caused by cattle raiding in the Greater Tonj area of Warrap State.

The incident reportedly led to deaths, injuries and displacement of the population.

A spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric said the mission is closely monitoring the situation and preparing to intensify patrols to deter further violence.

“Additionally, the mission is stepping up its community sensitization activities in Warrap through peace campaigns,” he said in a statement.

The campaigns, he noted, are intended to raise awareness among residents on the need for social cohesion as well as benefits of a peaceful cattle migration season.

Cattle are a main source of wealth for many communities in the East African nation.

Livestock-keeping communities in South Sudan routinely engage in cattle raids, which observers say have become more deadly because pastoralists switched from using spears and arrows to guns.

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January 21, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - West Darfur State approved on Thursday security plan to protect civilians after the bloody tribal violence that resulted in the death of 160 people and the injury of 215 others.

Following the attacks of 16 January by armed Arab tribesmen on Krinding camp outside El-Geneina, the Sudanese government swiftly deployed troops in the in and outside the state capital but the violent incident continued to take place in several parts of the state.

The West Darfur Governor Mohamed Abdallah Aldoma approved a security plan to restore security the eight localities of the state, said the official news agency SUNA, on Thursday.

According to Aldoma, a joint force consisting of police, security service, army, the Rapid Support Forces, and Central Reserve under the command of the state army command will be deployed across the state particularly in the troubled neighbourhoods.

The state capital, El Geneina has been divided into areas that need urgent and immediate interventions, and others where are deployed stationary forces to arrest outlaws.

He disclosed that large additional forces are on their way to the state the centre. The first military reinforcements came from the other Darfur states.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Zakaria Secretary-General of West Darfur Government said that they opened 42 centres to shelters over about 50,000 displaced persons, including children, women and the elderly.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Thursday to discuss the security situation in West Darfur, said a statement released by the Sudanese cabinet.

The Sudanese premier briefed the UN chief "about the military and security reinforcements that the government dispatched to the West Darfur State, and the legal measures that are being taken to hold accountable all those who caused the violence," said the statement.

Also, he told Guterres about the government plans to build community peace and to form the national mechanism to protect civilians.

In a related development, the British humanitarian group Save the Children said they plan to ramp up its humanitarian response in West Darfur in coming days, sending an Emergency Health Team to set up mobile clinics in areas with large numbers of displaced families.

The team will also be distributing hygiene kits and establishing water and sanitation services to help prevent the spread of disease, as well as running mobile child protection services and a family tracing and reunification program.

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January 21, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The United Kingdom extended £40 million in aid to Sudan to support cash assistance program that targets poor families and pledged a bridge loan to clear arrears at the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The Sudanese ministry of Finance and Economic Planning signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that outlines London's support of Khartoum's structural economic reforms.

The £40 million will finance the "Thamarah" program to support 1.6 million Sudanese families through the World Bank's multi-donor trust fund.

The British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday for a two-day visit to hold talks on a number of domestic and regional subjects.

His visit was described as 'historic' as it is the first of its kind in more than a decade and the most senior by a British official since the ouster of former president Omer Hassan al-Bashir after a popular uprising in April 2019.

Raab told the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok that the UK is ready to support Sudan's debt relief once the economic reforms are implemented.

The acting minister of Finance and Economic Planning Heba Mohamed Ali said in a press statement that the British pledge comes within the framework of the UK's contributions that were previously made at the Sudan Partners Conference in Berlin last year.

She indicated that the transitional government began implementing the first phase of the Thamarah program to support Sudanese families, noting that it aims to alleviate the economic difficulties that the country is going through and is implemented through an effective partnership between the ministries of finance, economic planning, labour and social development, in addition to other relevant institutions.

The Sudanese official affirmed the government's commitment to addressing the structural and chronic imbalances facing the economy for decades.

Her ministry also confirmed UK's commitment to providing a bridge loan of $400 million to pay AfDB arrears.

Raab praised the progress made by the transitional government and emphasized the UK's desire to continue to deepen relations with Sudan.

"The United Kingdom and Sudan have strong historical ties and a commercial partnership for which we want to see prosperity and growth," he said.

"We will continue our support for Sudan in its democratic transition and welcome the necessary economic reforms undertaken by the Sudanese government to put the country on a path to creating a better life for the people of Sudan," he added.

The UK Foreign Secretary, also, held talks with the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fatah al-Burhan.

He also heard from women who played a leading role in the 2019 revolution and saw first-hand how British humanitarian support is helping people in need.

Britain has provided £125 million to Sudan this fiscal year, including £5 million pounds in the form of new funding to meet the urgent needs arising from the crisis in the region.

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January 21, 2021 (JUBA)- Simon Kun Puoch, former governor of Upper Nile, one of the 10 states in South Sudan, has called for calm following attacks in which several lives and properties were lost.

Governor Simon Kun Pouch (FILE)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Thursday, Puoch said at least 13 people were killed and several others sustained injuries during two separate attacks in Melut County, Upper Nile.

The first attack, which took place on January 13, 2021, left five innocent civilians dead including a child, two women, an elderly person, and two young men, reads the statement in part.

The second incident intervened in Paloch on January 16, 2021, resulting in the death of 7 civilians from Gajaak, a clan from a section of ethnic Nuer. Five others sustained injuries and in critical condition.

The development sparked fears among political and military figures from the area, causing the government to dispatch top army officers to investigate the assaults and diffuse tension from escalating into a large-scale communal feud.

The Upper Nile State is the only remaining whose governor has not been appointed since July when President Salva Kiir declined to approve and appoint the nominee of the SPLM- IO to which Johnson Olony ally himself.

Kiir now wants Machar, the first vice-president in the unity government and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) to write an undertaking to take responsibility should Gen Olony break the truce.

Speaking with church leaders from the All African Conference of Churches and World Council of Churches who had visited him to discuss the delay of implementation, President Kiir said that Gen Olony remains an “active soldier" who operates outside the territories that are neither controlled by SPLM-IO nor the government.

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