Oil prices plunge as Iran says Strait of Hormuz 'open' during ceasefire

TEHRAN, Iran 

Oil prices have plummeted after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz would be "completely open" to commercial ships for the remainder of the ceasefire in the US-Israel war with Iran.

The cost of a barrel of Brent crude fell to $88 dollars a barrel, having been above $98 earlier on Friday.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow strip of water south of Iran through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquified natural gas is typically transported.

US President Donald Trump welcomed Iran's statement, but maritime groups are still verifying it.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: "The passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire."

Global markets rallied on the announcement, with the major US stock indices rising in early trading. The S&P 500 rose by 0.8%, while the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) were both up by more than 1%.

European shares also rose in reaction to the news. The Cac index in Paris and Dax in Frankfurt both climbed by more than 2%, while London's FTSE 100 rose by around 0.5%.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut by Iran since the US and Israel launched military strikes in the country in late February.

Tanker traffic through the water way has slowed to a trickel, drastically reducing the amount of oil and gas available on global markets and causing prices to spike.

Before the conflict, Brent crude was trading at under $70 per barrel. It rose above $100 before reaching a peak of more than $119 per barrel in March.

While Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open" and Trump has voiced his appreciation, the international shipping body BIMCO has expressed concern, in advice to operators, about the ongoing risks.

Jakob Larsen, BIMCO chief safety and security officer, said: "The status of mine threats in the traffic separation scheme is unclear and BIMCO believes shipping companies should consider avoiding the area.

"This means that the Traffic Separation Scheme is not declared safe for transit at this point."

Meanwhile the head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is trying to understand the details behind Iran's commitment to reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The IMO's secretary general Arsenio Dominguez said on social media: "We are currently verifying the recent announcement related to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, in terms of its compliance with freedom of navigation for all merchant vessels and secure passage using the IMO established traffic separation scheme."

Sharp rises in the price of oil have pushed up the price of petrol and diesel for drivers, as well as sparking concerns over the supply of jet fuel, leading to fears airlines will have to ground flights.

The closure of the key waterway has also cut off a major supply line of fertiliser, used by farmers, raising the prospect of higher food prices as a result of the conflict.

South Sudan General feared killed in internal clashes

JUBA, South Sudan 

A senior South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) officer is feared killed during recent clashes between government troops and opposition forces in Akobo County, Jonglei State, his family said.

The opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), together with allied White Army fighters, recaptured the strategic border town of Akobo in eastern Jonglei State on Monday, April 13, following fighting at dawn.

SSPDF spokesman Maj. Lul Ruai Koang said he could not comment on the matter, saying the situation in Akobo remained fluid.

Government forces entered Akobo in mid-March, marking their first presence in the area in 12 years.

A relative of the missing army officer, Abui Miaker, told our Correspondent on Friday that Brigadier General Santino Riak Athian Chok is feared dead as his body has not been recovered.

He said the officer was shot in the stomach and that his driver was also shot while they were in the vehicle. He added that the general later got out of the vehicle but has not been found since.

“The driver has been rescued and is alive, but the rest of the soldiers who were with him in the vehicle were killed. Most of the bodyguards have been killed, including one of our relatives called Mayiik. The car was moved but later got stuck in the mud, which is why they left it,” he said.

He said the family is still searching for the officer but has arranged funeral prayers for Sunday, April 19, 2026.

Santino Riak Athian Chok had previously served as commissioner of Pigi County in 2009.

Macron and Starmer hold international summit on reopening the Strait of Hormuz

PARIS, France 

The leaders of France and the U.K. will gather dozens of countries — but not the United States — on Friday to push forward plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The Paris meeting is part of attempts by sidelined nations to ease the impact of a conflict they didn’t start and haven’t joined, but that has sent the global economy reeling. After the war started on Feb. 28, Iran effectively shut the narrow strait though which a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.

The U.S. is not part of the planning for what has been branded the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative. 

In a post on X ahead of Friday’s conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said the mission to provide security for shipping through the strait would be “strictly defensive,” limited to non-belligerent countries and deployed “when security conditions allow.”

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have spearheaded international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, which Starmer has accused of “holding the world’s economy to ransom.” U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a retaliatory American blockade of Iranian ports has raised the economic jeopardy even higher.

“The unconditional and immediate reopening of the Strait is a global responsibility, and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again,” Starmer said before the meeting.

France and Britain also have led military planning meetings, in an echo of the “coalition of the willing” assembled to provide security for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in that war.

French military spokesman Col. Guillaume Vernet said Thursday that the mission is still “in construction.”

Macron’s office said participants will contribute “each according to its capabilities,” stressing options to ensure safe passage through the strait will depend on the security situation after a lasting ceasefire.

“What matters is that ship operators have all the means at their disposal to be sure their vessels will not be hit if they pass through the strait. That may require intelligence, mine-clearing capabilities, military escorts, communication procedures with coastal states, etc.,” an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 17/04/2026

 

South African opposition leader Julius Malema sentenced to five years in prison

By Pumza Fihlani, Ku GOMPO CITY South Africa 

Leading South African opposition politician Julius Malema, 45, has been sentenced to five years after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public.

But Magistrate Twanet Olivier allowed the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and MP to appeal against the sentencing, meaning that he was not immediately taken to prison.

Earlier, standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as Olivier read out the sentence even though his political future was at stake.

Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including the unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging it in public and reckless endangerment.

The charges related to an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema using a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots in the air during his party's fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country's Eastern Cape province.

During the trial in KuGompo City, which is the new name for East London, Malema told the court that the firearm was not his and that he had fired the shots to rouse the crowd, South African news site SowetanLIVE reported at the time.

But during her sentencing ruling Olivier said "it wasn't... an impulsive act. It was the event of the evening".

She added that while his political standing had no bearing on her findings, he was someone who had a large following in South Africa and should account for his actions.

Addressing some of those followers outside court, he made a series of unsubstantiated allegations against Olivier and said, without offering direct evidence, that the conviction and sentencing were a result of a conspiracy.

"They are trying by all means to silence this voice. They will never win," press quotes him as saying. "We are fighting the enemy and the enemy is white supremacy."

Malema has a long reputation as being an outspoken, charismatic and radical left-wing politician and has a loyal band of supporters.

Hundreds had come to back Malema with chants and revolutionary songs.

When news came through that he would be allowed to appeal, they started calling out in the Xhosa language "sigoduka naye", which translates as "we are leaving with him today".

Malema was once the leader of the youth wing of the governing African National Congress. But after being expelled from the party, following a falling-out with then President Jacob Zuma, he went on to form the EFF.

With Malema's calls for the seizure of white-owned land and arguments that more should be done to transfer wealth to the black majority, the EFF ate away at the ANC share of the vote. It became the country's fourth largest party at the 2024 elections.

After being found guilty last October, Malema was quoted as telling those outside the court that "going to prison or death is a badge of honour".

"We cannot be scared of prison [or] to die for the revolution. Whatever they want to do, they must know we will never retreat."

He also vowed to take a challenge to the judgment up to South Africa's highest court, the Constitutional Court.

Malema's prosecution came when Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a contentious relationship with him and the EFF, opened a case against Malema after the video went viral.

AfriForum also had a role in another conviction against the politician.

Last August, he was found guilty of hate speech by the equality court, following remarks he made at a rally in 2022.

After an incident where a white man allegedly assaulted an EFF member, Malema said: "No white man is going to beat me up... you must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing."

The equality court ruled that these remarks "demonstrated an intent to incite harm", but the EFF said they were taken out of context.

Malema has also been criticised for chanting a song that includes the words "shoot the Boer (Afrikaner); shoot the farmer" at his political rallies.

US President Donald Trump brought this up during a tense White House meeting with South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa last May.

Afrikaner lobby groups have tried to get the song banned, but South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that a "reasonably well-informed person" would understand that the song, which dates from the fight against white-minority rule, was not meant to be taken literally and so was not hate speech.

"Gabon opposition leader brutally arrested" - opposition party

LIBREVILLE, Gabon 

Gabon authorities have arrested main opposition leader and vocal government critic Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, his political party said in a statement on Thursday.

Bilie-By-Nze was detained at his home late on Wednesday, his Together For Gabon (EPG) party said, adding that it was carried out in "conditions that we consider arbitrary, brutal and manifestly contrary to the fundamental principles of the rule of law."

The party said the arrest is linked to a 2008 event for which the politician was at the head of the organising committee.

The case relates to “a debt that the Gabonese government allegedly failed to pay in connection with the organization of the Festival of Cultures,” the party added.

EPG condemned the arrest as a "serious political manoeuvre" aimed at "silencing a major critical voice."

Bilie-By-Nze held several government posts under former Gabonese president Ali Bongo and served as prime minister from January to August 2023, when a coup deposed Bongo.

He was also the runner-up in last year’s presidential election, coming far behind president-elect Brice Oligui Nguema, who won with more than 94% of the vote.

In recent months, Bilie-By-Nze has opposed a suspension of social media introduced in February and has criticised the adoption by decree of a reform of the nationality laws.

The measures were introduced as Gabon's new administration confronted agitation including a strike by teachers.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 16/04/2026