Africa

Col Mamady Doumbouya is a former French soldier who has fought in countries from Somalia to Afghanistan.

PSG star Achraf Hakimi and team-mate Nayed Aguerd explain Morocco's fear while trapped in Guinea during Sunday's coup.

A deadly outbreak of meningitis has been declared in a northeastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the World Health Organization (WHO) have been supporting health authorities to deploy an initial emergency response team. 

Francine Niyonsaba says she keeps competing after her enforced switch to longer distances to "make sport a better place and inspire others".

The World Food Programme (WFP) is facing an unprecedented funding gap of $426 million for its operation in Ethiopia, as the UN agency ramps up delivery to meet the needs of up to 12 million people this year. 

Ahead of the 8 September elections, we asked young people in Casablanca what it's like to be Moroccan in 2021.

A South African company is aiming to take advantage of a new interest in protein-rich insects.

Ecowas has condemned the coup in Guinea threatening with sanctions unless the president is released.

Pictures of squatters in a South African inner city with high levels of crime, drugs and prostitution.

Campaigners say it is important that Kenyan men join the battle to end female genital mutilation.

Zimbabwean musician Jah Prayzah maintains his passion for traditional music despite being an Afrobeats star.

How a start-up in Kenya is changing the way people cook.

New tactics are being used in the fight against jihadists as Chad and France reduce their military roles.

How Ntando Mahlangu's prosthetic blades changed his life and led him to two golds at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Macoumba Toure Sarr has been using handcycling to rebuild his life following a devastating accident.

Africa could miss the goal of vaccinating the most vulnerable 10 per cent of its population against COVID-19 before the month ends, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

The aid crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region is worsening, the UN said on Thursday, with stocks of relief aid, cash and fuel “running very low or depleted”. 

September 1, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The UN official who chairs the Permanent Ceasefire Commission arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday ahead of the launch of the implementation process of the security arrangements for Darfur armed groups.

The Juba Peace Agreement signed between the government and the Revolutionary Front groups on October 3, 2020, provides that the permanent ceasefire commission would be chaired by a United Nations representative and includes five officers from each party besides two representatives of South Sudan and Chad.

“The head of the ceasefire commission arrived in Sudan. He is a member of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Higher Military Committee, Suleiman Sandal, told the Sudan Tribune, on Wednesday.

Sandal said the Permanent Ceasefire Commission should move to its headquarters in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

He further underlined the need to activate the implementation mechanisms and to take concrete financial and administrative procedures in this respect; particularly the Joint Military High Committee for Security Arrangements approved it.

On 30 August, the Joint Military High Committee held a meeting in Khartoum chaired by al-Burhan with the participation of the army officers and the representatives of the armed groups to discuss the security arrangements enforcement.

The meeting agreed to expedite the implementation of the security arrangements and the need to determine the gathering site for remaining combatants.

Sandal said that the meeting discussed administrative issues and who will oversee the implementation of different tasks.

In addition, he disclosed that the parties to the implementation process would hold technical consultations meetings on September 5 and 6, to finalize the preparations before its effective launch, which would be very soon.

In a related development, Sudan's Sovereign Council on Wednesday announced the beginning of the implementation process in the Blue Nile.

The statement said Malik Agar, the Council's member and chairman of the SPLM-N and the defence minister attended the inauguration of the process.

(ST)

September 1, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudanese authorities have fined small scale traders for shutting down shops in the wake of the botched protests organised by civil society activists last week.

Traders display clothes for sale in Bor town (File photo)

Multiple traders in Konyokonyo market, Juba town, Jebel and Muniki area told Sudan Tribune Wednesday that officials, collaborating with security officers, police and military personnel from the Juba City Council have been threatening to arrest them for failing to open their shops on August 30, 2021.

These officials accompanied by security personnel, military, and police, according to multiple traders, imposed financial fines ranging between 150,000 SSP ($375) to 50,000 SSP ($125) each.

“We were not allowed to talk. They just asked for the money and when you ask, they say they are fines for failing to open and operate your shop on Monday”, a trader told Sudan Tribune Wednesday.

A police source privy to what transpired told Sudan Tribune separately the collection was to cover expenses incurred on the forces deployed on Monday.

“You know the government is broke to the core. Even finding a fuel to put into an official car for official purpose require a strategy to get funds for it. Soldiers too had to eat, and this was not budgeted. So, the money must be found somewhere and collecting them from traders was one of the strategies to pay for these expenses and the Juba city council was given the responsibility to do that. And because of the envisioned resistance from traders, the soldiers were deployed for that purpose”, he explained.

Traders argued that they could not open their shops because they were unsure of the nature of protest, citing previous incidents in which shops were ransacked without government intervention.

Rights groups said security forces have arrested several people, including activists and a bishop, ahead of a botched mass protest.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman denied the arrests, but later explained that the deployment was to protect lives and properties.

The government was reacting to activities of a coalition of leaders of the civil society organisations calling on President Salva Kiir and the First Vice-President Riek Machar to step down.

The activists had planned nationwide protests, which the country's authorities quickly subdued.

Tensions were high and government officials, including Kiir and members of his administration were worried about the mass protests and heavily deployed security forces.

Observers say citizens easily accepted calls for mass protests because soldiers are underpaid and overlooked in promotions. Other reasons include political and economic stagnation, rampant corruption, growing nepotism in government and armed forces, insecurity and lack of empathy.

Political opponents and journalists argue that lack of political space to freely assemble, arbitrary arrest and detention explains why the country's citizens have lost faith in the coalition government.

(ST)

September 1, 2021- (KHARTOUM) - One policeman and a number of gunmen were wounded during armed clashes on Wednesday in Khartoum's suburb of Soba between government forces and gunmen affiliated with a signatory group called Third Front - Tamazuj.

The Sudanese interior ministry said the former rebels refused to leave a building in the Rahaf neighbourhood of the Soba area of Khartoum and opened fire on the police force that requested them to render the keys of the accommodations.

The group members were supposed to stay in the police building for one month after their arrival in Khartoum in November 2020.

The Sudanese police said that the armed group refused to vacate the residence and opened fire on the police, following what they request the support of a joint force involving the police, the army and the Rapid Support Forces.

The controversial group did not take part in the negotiations but joined the agreement later. Its leadership claims they were part of the SPLM-North but the latter denies that.

Tamazuj had already clashed with the security forces on 18 March of this year.

The group spokesman Mohamed Musa Badi said the " unfortunate " incident occurred due to the lack of written or verbal notification with the group.

Also, in a state released late on Wednesday evening, the SPLM-N Darfur Sector led by Saeed Youssif Mahel said the security forces attacked its members and injured several members of the group.

"There is a systematic targeting of some armed struggle leaders," said the group and warned they would retaliate if the government does not hold accountable the perpetrators of the attack.

The U.S. Embassy which has its building in Soba advised its personnel "to avoid all areas south of its location until further notice.

Tamazuj groups have been accused of being fabricated by the military intelligence to weaken the Juba Peace Agreement signatory groups as it gathers people from the border areas with South Sudan from Kordofan and Darfur regions.

Several members of this alliance were involved in robbery and looting attacks in the past months increasing the insecurity in the capital.

Analysts and commentators had warned that the non-implementation of the security arrangements would lead to such incidents.

(ST)