Uganda supreme court clears Museveni swearing in after staying Constitutional court ruling

KAMPALA, Uganda

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order staying the execution of the Constitutional court decision arising from the late Bob Kasango's petition. 

The justices led by Justice Kenneth Kakuru on March 18 unanimously ordered that a serving judge should resign before taking up any other appointment in executive or constitutional offices. They declared that effective March 18, any judicial officer serving in such offices who continues with duties before the resignation, their decisions shall be invalid.

They reasoned that such actions contravene several articles enshrined under the constitution regarding their mandates as judicial officers and the oath they take which talks about being independent. 

The ruling by the justices was as a result of the petition filed by the late Kasango in 2016 who challenged the decisions made by the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Justice Mike Chibita to sanction corruption-related charges against him when he was still a serving judge.

But last week, all the offices that were affected by the decision applied for an interim stay of the proceedings in the Supreme Court pending the hearing of the main application. The affected offices include the Electoral Commission currently headed by Justice Simon Byabakama, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) led by Justice Benjamin Kabiito and the DPP led by Justice Jane Frances Abodo. 

They jointly argued that there was going to be a legal crisis in the country if the stay is not granted because there was a big threat to execute the said orders. The Electoral Commission argued that the swearing-in of new leaders in the country which is scheduled for May 2021 was going to be affected since a fully constituted Electoral Commission is the one that presents them to the swearing-in authority to take the oath, while the DPP, argued that the criminal justice system was most likely to be crippled given that the law doesn't allow the DPP to delegate powers given to him or her.

The JSC told the court that the recruitment process of judicial officers for this financial year had already been disrupted following the constitutional judgement. The director for civil litigation Christine Kahwa in the Attorney General’s office told the court on Wednesday that there's a need for a stay of the execution adding that there is an intended appeal that is yet to be filed challenging the Constitutional court decisions. According to Kahwa, this appeal has higher chances of succeeding. 

However, the panel of five Supreme court Justices led by chief justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo in their ruling agreed with the applicants and issued an interim order staying the decision of the Constitutional court.

According to Justice Paul Mugamba who read the decision on behalf of the panel, the order will remain in force until the determination of the substantive application or any other order. Other justices are Stellah Arach Amoko, Rubby Opio Aweri and Ezekiel Muhanguzi.

This now implies that the officers who have been previously affected by the ruling can resume their duties unless there is any other order directing them to do otherwise. Lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde has said that the decision has been done in law and he intends to apply to join the proceedings such that he can represent the deceased Kasango. Ssemakadde on Wednesday wrote to the justices seeking to block the hearing of the Attorney General’s application in the absence of the deceased who wasn’t served.

Earlier in the hearing, chief justice Owiny-Dollo said that although today's application has been heard exparte, the main application and the appeal will have a respondent to challenge the arguments by the applicants because of the nature of their importance.

Questions arise over SA’s arms supplies to Mozambique as violence spikes in Cabo Delgado

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

South Africa’s supply of weapons and training to Mozambique is under scrutiny as violence increases in Cabo Delgado and the United Nations reports targeted attacks against civilians in Palma.

The insurgency in Mozambique began in 2017 and since then has killed thousands and displaced more than half a million. The Mozambican authorities have turned to South African private companies to assist with security, while the United States and Portugal have agreed to provide limited training.

Since April 2020, Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) has been assisting the Mozambican police, and using light helicopters helped rescue many people from besieged Palma over the weekend. However, Amnesty International has accused it of indiscriminate attacks against civilians and its contract with Mozambique expires on 6 April.

Paramount Group is supplying a number of Marauder armoured personnel carriers to Mozambique as well as refurbished Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters and pilot training.

With regard to the weapons from South Africa being authorised by the South African government and Pretoria looking the other way regarding private military contractors, according to Khadija Sharife, Senior Editor for Africa at the non-profit Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, “unless a country is flagged by way of sanctions or other issues, arms trading is a largely private affair”.

Sharife said that “South Africa approved over half a billion rand in weapons exports to Mozambique during 2020. The conflict in Cabo Delgado justifies the export as it does in many other countries where a sovereign government can claim they are under duress from non-governmental armed forces”. That, in her view, is “an old trick”.

She is not the only one who worries about the role that arms flows are playing in what can only be described as a rapidly deteriorating situation. Amnesty International’s newest report, released in March of this year, is focused on Mozambique.

The global NGO, based in London, says that its researchers have found war crimes committed by three key actors: armed groups, government forces, and private military contractors. Their independent study lays out to the world some of the key facts, including hundreds of people killed as conflict continues to rage in Cabo Delgado; indiscriminate attacks carried out by Dyck Advisory Group; and more than half-a-million civilians displaced to date.

According to Brian Castner, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Advisor, “We have no evidence that SA has licensed DAG for operations in Mozambique. This is why one of the recommendations in the report is for SA to investigate whether DAG is complying with the Foreign Military Assistance Act.”

Castner pointed out that “Paramount is active in Mozambique, providing armoured vehicles and helicopters to the army. There may be others, but this was not an object of our research.” He added that Amnesty doesn’t have specific evidence of specific South African weapons systems provided to the Mozambique government.

According to Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa Director at Human Rights Watch, his organization “is aware that officially, South African authorities announced last year that they are providing weaponry to Mozambique to help end the insurgency in Cabo Delgado province.

However, they did not provide further details. Having documented allegations of serious human rights abuses in Cabo Delgado by both the insurgents and Mozambique security forces, including killings, kidnappings, ill treatment of detainees and arbitrary detentions which are happening with impunity, we urge the SA authorities to ensure that their support will not result in further abuses.”

Mavhinga said that SA should “seriously consider” coordinating within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help ensure technical, training, and capacity support to Mozambican security forces to ensure they respect the rights of civilians and prohibit summary, extrajudicial, or arbitrary executions, and torture and other ill-treatment of people in Cabo Delgado. According to Mavhinga, support to Mozambique “should consider the need to protect civilians and prevent abuses and barbaric criminal acts.”

The South African National Defence Force does not appear to be involved in the conflict as Mozambique appears reluctant to call in international assistance, although this month the United States began a two-month training course for Mozambican forces, and Portugal has announced it will send 60 soldiers to Mozambique. Portugal has in the past provided security assistance (including equipment such as FTB-337 aircraft) to Mozambique.

The South African Air Force did send a C-130 Hercules transport to Mozambique this week, but that was to repatriate South African citizens. The SANDF’s Operation Copper anti-piracy deployment remains restricted to warship patrols in the Mozambique Channel.

Last month International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said South Africa had offered to assist Mozambique fight the insurgency but the Mozambicans have not been very forthcoming. “And we said, we are ready to [assist], but we must know, [play] a key role in what?” she said, repeating an earlier complaint that the Mozambican government had not yet indicated concretely what it needed.

“What do they need? You know, do they need helicopters? Do they need, you know, vessels on the sea? Do they need training? It’s a puzzle for us. Why they don’t actually tell us what it is they need,” she said in mid-February.

A weekend Department of International Relations and Cooperation statement had it that the South African mission in Maputo was going to be “reinforced with additional staff to handle the work of locating, identifying and responding to the respective needs of the affected”.

Darren Olivier, African Defence Review (ADR) director, notes the SANDF is capable of intervention, as was shown in its surge after the Battle of Bangui, but lacks sufficient budget to sustain one without additional funding from national budgets.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in Cabo Delgado, with the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 30 March saying dozens of people were killed by insurgents in Palma at the weekend.

“The violence has not stopped. What happened in Palma is an absolute horror inflicted on civilians by a non-State armed group,” the OCHA’s Jens Laerke said.

“They have done horrific things, they are still doing so, we reported continued sporadic clashes and are talking about expectations of thousands moving from the Palma district to other areas of the country and toward the Tanzanian border.”

 

Thousands find refuge after insurgent attack in Mozambique gas town

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Thousands of people fleeing an attack claimed by Islamic State have made their way to safety elsewhere in northern Mozambique, aid workers said, while a small group of victims arrived by boat in neighbouring Tanzania.

A message asking for help can be seen in the grounds of a hotel in Palma, where many locals and foreigners hid during the attack, in Mozambique, in this picture taken between March 24 and March 27, 2021

Insurgents hit the coastal town of Palma, adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion, with a three-pronged attack last Wednesday. Fighting continued as recently as Tuesday, security sources involved in rescue efforts and the United Nations said.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the accounts from Palma. Most communications to the town were cut last Wednesday.

A United Nations spokesman said that so far 5,300 displaced people had been registered in different districts of the Cabo Delgado province, home since 2017 to a simmering Islamist insurgency linked to Islamic State. Numbers of the displaced were expected to rise in the coming days.

Since Tuesday, more than 300 survivors of the attack had arrived in provincial capital Pemba by plane and boat, a senior humanitarian official based in Mozambique told Reuters.

A boat carrying another 1,000 people, including some injured, was expected to arrive in Pemba late on Wednesday after its departure from a gas project site near Palma was delayed, three people briefed on the rescue operation said.

In the village of Kilambo across the border in Tanzania, another boat with 45 people on board docked on Tuesday afternoon, a local community leader told Reuters, adding the people had been given food and shelter.

Others seeking shelter in Tanzania had failed to cross the border because of a difficult river crossing, U.N. humanitarian officials said. Tanzanian government and border officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The attack probably displaced tens of thousands of people, aid groups said, with people scattering into dense forest or attempting escape by sea.

Mozambique’s government has confirmed dozens of deaths, including at least seven killed when militants ambushed a convoy of vehicles trying to escape a besieged hotel. Witnesses have described bodies in the streets, some of them beheaded.

Phone calls to Mozambique’s government and security officials went unanswered on Wednesday.

President Filipe Nyusi said at an event unrelated to the Palma attack on Wednesday that the government will approach the enemy with “forcefulness”, describing the attack as not the biggest the country had seen.

Tanzania President kicked out her Chief Secretary after one-month in office

DODOMA, Tanzania

President of Tanzania, Samia Hassan has on Wednesday March 31, done away with her Chief Secretary, Bashiru Ally, who held the position for only one month.

The change was made in a cabinet reshuffle, replacing the former ruling party (CCM) Secretary General by Tanzania’s ambassador to Japan Hussein Kattanga.

Ally who has been nominated as a Member of Parliament today by President Hassan, was appointed as Chief Secretary by former Tanzania President the late John Magufuli a month ago.

The reshuffle announced today at State House, has seen some new faces with the most notable being the nomination of Liberata Mulamula as  Member of Parliament and then as Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation  Minister  replacing Palamagamba Kabudi who now takes over the ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

Mwigulu Nchemba who was the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs now becomes the Minister of Finance and Planning, a docket left vaccant yesterday following appointment of Phillip Mpango as the new Vice President.

Ummy Mwalimu now becomes the Minister in the President's office Regional Administration and Local Government replacing Selemani Jafo who now serves the Ministry of State in the Vice Presidents Office.

In her remarks, she said that there was no need to make complete reshuffle as most ministers were sworn recently after October 2020 election.

Bashiru Ally

"It has been a short while since you were sworn in so I did not see the need for a complete overhaul of the ministries," She said warning her appointees to embrace nothing but work.

President Hassan also warned ministers who hardly assign deputy ministers any tasks something that in the long run causes frictions with the ministry.

As part of her other instructions, she ordered the newly created ministry of investment under the stewardship of Godfrey Mwambe and his deputy Ole Nasha gets functional as soon as possible.

In the other development, President Samia Hassan presided over the swearing in of Philip Mpango as Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

On Tuesday, all 363 Members of Parliament gave their approval for Mpango (63), to become Tanzania’s next Vice President, after President Samia Suluhu presented his name as a nominee for the position to parliament.

ICC upholds acquittal of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo

THE HAGUE, Netherlands 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber has on Wednesday acquitted Former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo. 

The court said it has ‘confirmed, by majority, Trial Chamber I’s decision of 15 January 2019 acquitting Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé of all charges of crime against humanity.’

"The acquittal is now final." The Appeals Chamber stated. 

Gbagbo has been acquitted of crimes against humanity linked to the post-electoral violence in 2010 and 2011.

This decision hence paves the way for the return of the former president to Côte d’Ivoire, after a decade of absence.

Accused of four counts of crimes against humanity – murders, rapes, persecutions and other inhuman acts – Laurent Gbagbo, 75, and one of his relatives, Charles Blé Goudé, former leader of the Young Ivorian Patriots movement nicknamed “the general de la rue ”, were acquitted in January 2019 and released on conditions a month later.

The court’s outgoing attorney general, Fatou Bensouda, appealed the decision in September 2019, eight months after the acquittal.

Heavy gunfire near Niger presidential palace in attempted coup

PARIS, France

Heavy gunfire was heard outside Niger's presidential palace early Wednesday morning in an attempted coup, an African diplomatic source has told CNN -- just two days before power is to change hands.

The diplomatic source told CNN the situation is apparently under control after an hour of heavy shelling near the presidency. Both outgoing and incoming presidents are safe, the source said, adding they could not confirm any arrests.

The incident comes two days before the swearing in of President-elect Mohamed Bazoum. The former interior minister succeeds President Mahamadou Issoufou, who stepped down after a decade in power.

Asked to confirm it was an attempted putsch, the diplomatic source said: "Yes it's the army. Which is predominately from the west of the country, which is the heartland of the opposition to Bazoum." 

CNN is attempting to reach the Army and Presidency for comment.

The US Embassy in Niger's capital Niamey said it will be closed on Wednesday and consular services suspended "due to gunshots heard near our neighborhood."

"The security situation throughout Niger remains fluid in the post-election period with the possibility of unrest and/or intercommunal clashes around the country. There may be a corresponding increase in police presence and traffic delays on major roads. Please exercise caution," the embassy said on its website.

It encouraged all personnel to stay at home until further notice.

The west African nation is in the midst of a security crisis, with a wave of deadly attacks by militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State near its borders with Mali and Burkina Faso in recent months.

Last week UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned "another heinous attack" by unidentified gunmen against civilians in the Tahoua region of the Republic of Niger.

The attack on March 21, reportedly killed at least 137 people, the UN said. It was the second deadly attacks against civilians in recent weeks. At least 58 people including six children were killed in an attack on a market.

Guterres called on countries in the Sahel region to continue their efforts "to address these serious threats to security and stability in the sub-region and beyond".

Tanzanian publication suspends staff for mistakenly ran ad mourning new president's death

By Nimi Princewill

Staff of a Tanzania state-run publication were suspended after they mistakenly printed an advert mourning the country's new President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was recently sworn in to replace the late President John Magufuli.

The advert, sponsored by Tanzania's Mining Corporation (STAMICO) was intended to congratulate President Samia Suluhu, 61, on her emergence as the country's 6th president but instead offered condolences to citizens on her death.

The ad appeared in Monday's edition of the Daily News, a leading English newspaper in Tanzania, and read: "The Board of Directors, Management and Staff of State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) joins fellow Tanzanians in mourning the death of H.E President Samia Suluhu Hassan for being sworn in as the 6th President of the United Republic of Tanzania."

A copy of the erroneous publication circulated on social media.

Officials at Tanzania Standard Newspapers (TSN) the publishers of the Daily News, said it had taken action against three staff for "failing to ensure quality control of adverts."

In a statement issued by Daily News Monday, the newspaper said it "highly regrets" the error.

"We sincerely apologize to H.E President of the United Republic of Tanzania and highly regret for any inconvenience caused by this error. The corrected version and apology will be republished tomorrow March 30, 2021."

TSN management announced the suspension of its Acting Head of Advertising, Anitha Shayo and Head of Front Desk and Customer Care, Rajab Juma Mohamed, pending the outcome of an investigation.

The corporation also canceled its contract with Sales Freelancer, Lameck Samson.

"Disciplinary action will be taken against all to be implicated upon completion of the investigation," a statement from TSN Acting Managing Editor, Tuma Abdallah said.

Tanzanian lawyer, Rugemeleza Nshala, told CNN Tuesday that the advertorial blunder was borne out of "incompetence in the country's state-run media."

"The government must ensure that its media houses are run professionally, so we don't keep experiencing this sort of shoddy jobs...embarrassing adverts," Nshala, who heads the Tanganyika Law Society added.

President Samia Hassan has hit the ground running, sacking the country's port authority boss over corruption allegations and nominated the country's current Minister of Finance and Planning, Philip Mpango, as her vice president. - CNN

Tanzania President names finance minister as Vice-President

By Our Correspondent, DODOMA Tanzania

Tanzania parliament has today March 30, approved Finance and Planning Minister, Phillip Mpango (63), as the new Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

He was approved by all the 363 members of parliament who gave a nod, this was shortly after Mpango’s name was presented to the speaker of parliament Job Ndugai by the President’s ADC earlier in the day.

Mpango who is a current member of parliament for Buhigwe constituency in Kigoma region will be sworn in as the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania on Wednesday, March 31 at State House Chamwino, Dodoma.

Following the parliament confirmation, the speaker declared Buhigwe constituency, vacant because he now ceases to be a Member of Parliament as spelt out in the constitution.

“I therefore wish to inform the National Electoral Commission that Buhigwe Constituency is now vacant.” Ndugai declared.

Mpango now fills the Vice President position left vacant by Samia Hassan who according to Tanzania constitution was sworn in as President following the death of former President, John Magufuli.

Until his nomination, Mpango was the Minister for Finance and Planning of the United Republic of Tanzania, and has been in office since November 2015.

He previously held positions as the Acting Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority, the Executive Secretary in the President’s Office (Planning Commission), the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Personal Assistant to the President (Economic Affairs).

He also worked as the Head of the President’s Economic Advisory Unit, Senior Economist for the World Bank, Visiting Lecturer in Public Economics, Collaborative Masters program for Anglo-phone Africa, AERC, Nairobi-Kenya, and Lecturer, Economics Department University of Dar es Salaam.

Some of his notable publications include: Macro-micro Linkages in the Fight Against Poverty: Missing Links and Enabling Bridges (2004); Some Reflections on Semi-privatization of Customs Administration in Tanzania (1996), and a chapter on Spatial Dimensions of Economic Growth published in Tanzania Sustaining and Sharing Growth.

Mpango was also the Principal Supervisor for the preparation of The National Five Year Development Plan 2011/12 – 2015/16.

He told the parliament before they voted on his nomination that he will continue to implement flagship infrastructure projects, including a new standard gauge railway and roads, and fight corruption.

Leaders of 23 countries back pandemic treaty idea for future emergencies

BRUSSELS, Belgium

Leaders of 23 countries and the World Health Organisation on Tuesday backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help the world deal with future health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic now ravaging the globe.

The idea of such a treaty, which would ensure universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics, was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders Charles Michel at a G20 summit last November.

On Tuesday it got the formal backing of the leaders of Fiji, Portugal, Romania, Britain, Rwanda, Kenya, France, Germany, Greece, Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Albania, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Senegal, Spain, Norway, Serbia, Indonesia, Ukraine and the WHO.

“There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone,” the leaders wrote in a joint opinion article in major newspapers.

“We believe that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response,” they said.

The main goal of such a treaty would be to strengthen the world’s resilience to future pandemics through better alert systems, data sharing, research and the production and distribution of vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment, they said.

The treaty would also state that the health of humans, animals and the planet are all connected and should lead to shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation globally.

“We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the leaders wrote.

Magufuli's farewell stampede left 45 Tanzanians dead - Police

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

It is now official. The stampede that occurred on the second day when Dar es Salaam residents were paying their last respects to the body of the late President John Magufuli killed 45 people.

Thirty-seven more people were injured as a huge number of mourners sought to force their way into Uhuru stadium to pay their last respects to the fallen President on Sunday, March 21, 2021, police have confirmed.

According to the Dar es Salaam Special Zone police Commander, Lazaro Mambosasa, a stampede occurred when some Dar es Salaam residents attempted to enter the already full stadium via unofficial entrance points as the crowd got larger for the security officers to control.

“They went to the stadium in order to express their love for their departed leader but because the number of people was huge, some became impatient and opted to use unofficial entry points and that was how the problem occurred.” Mambosasa, told Mwananchi newspaper adding that the deceased were not criminals.

He said all the 37 people who were injured in the stampede were progressing well and had been discharged from various hospitals.

 “Whenever there is a national event that brings many people together, it is advised that people should obey the laid procedures. That way, we will be able to avoid a recurrence of the loss of lives that we have just had.” He stressed.

Though the Commander could not name the victims, what is known is that the stampede dealt a heavy loss to the family of David Mtuwa of Dar es Salaam who lost six members of his family.

On Thursday, March 25, hundreds of mourners turned up at his home to pay their last respects to the family members who lost their lives during the stampede at the stadium.

The deceased were his children Christian (11), Michelle (8), Nathan (6), and Natalia (5), his wife Suzan Ndana Mtuwa (30s) and housemaid Anita Mfikwa (27).

Another reported victim was Rose John who was also killed during the stampede and her body was transported to Kagera for burial.

Late president Magufuli died at the Mzena Memorial Hospital in Dar es Salaam on March 17, and his body was laid to rest at his Chato hometown on Friday, March 26.

The burial took place after Tanzanians had paid their last respects in Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Zanzibar and Mwanza.

Barack Obama's tribute to his fallen grandmother

By Barack Obama, KALORAMA US

My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as “Mama Sarah” but known to us as “Dani” or Granny.

A young Barack Obama with his grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, during a trip to Kenya. 

Born in the first quarter of the last century, in Nyanza Province, on the shores of Lake Victoria, she had no formal schooling, and in the ways of her tribe, she was married off to a much older man while only a teen.

She would spend the rest of her life in the tiny village of Alego, in a small home built of mud-and thatch brick and without electricity or indoor plumbing.

There she raised eight children, tended to her goats and chickens, grew an assortment of crops, and took what the family didn’t use to sell at the local open-air market.

Although not his birth mother, Granny would raise my father as her own, and it was in part thanks to her love and encouragement that he was able to defy the odds and do well enough in school to get a scholarship to attend an American university.

When our family had difficulties, her homestead was a refuge for her children and grandchildren, and her presence was a constant, stabilising force. - Facebook

Brazil covid-19 caseload surpass 12 million

BRASILIA, Brazil

Brazil reported 44,326 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 12,534,688, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

The country also reported 1,656 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total death toll to 312,206.

Brazil’s hospital system is currently overwhelmed, with the occupancy rate ranging between 80 percent and 100 percent in intensive care units. Many have to wait in line for beds and equipment.

The state of Rio Grande do Sul is in its fourth week of complete hospital crisis, with 114 percent occupancy of intensive care units. More than 320 COVID-19 patients are waiting for more available intensive care equipment.

Brazil has vaccinated almost 20 million people, with 15.2 million having received one dose and 4.6 million people having received both doses, according to local media.

14 killed, 7 injured in South Sudan attack

JUBA, South Sudan

At least 14 people have been killed and seven others injured in a deadly attack in Budi County of South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State, a local government official confirmed Monday.

Aliandro Lotok, State Governor’s press secretary, said unknown gunmen launched the attack on Camp 15 area at around 1 a.m. on Sunday while people were sleeping, killing 12 women and two children.

"The state government has condemned the incident in the strongest term possible. We would like to assure our citizens that the state authorities will investigate the attack,” Lotok told our reporter on the phone in Juba.

He added that the local authorities have not established the motive behind the attack, noting that a major hunt for the attackers is underway.

Lotok urged the local communities in the area to remain calm despite the deadly attack as the state authorities strive to restore normally in the area as the government probes the killings.

The latest attack comes a week after a group of gunmen attacked a cantonment site harboring opposition forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Kapoeta County, killing its commander and four others.

Dozens killed in Mozambique Islamist attacks, government says

PEMBA, Mozambique

Dozens of people were killed in coordinated jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique's Palma town, the government said on Sunday, four days after the raid was launched and forced the evacuation of thousands of survivors to safety in the provincial capital Pemba.

Seven people were killed in an ambush during an operation to evacuate them from a hotel where they had sought refuge, it said.

"Last Wednesday, a group of terrorists sneaked into... Palma and launched actions that resulted in the cowardly murder of dozens of defenceless people," Defence ministry spokesman Omar Saranga told a news conference.

Foreigners were among those caught in the violence, but the government did not say how many foreign nationals were killed.

So far, one South African is known to have died during the attack, his family confirmed to AFP.

Adrian Nel had been holed up in the Amarula hotel with his father and brother for two days, his mother said. 

As they were making their way to a convoy of cars that had come to evacuate them, Nel was shot dead, she said. His father had to carry his body until they were rescued. 

"There's no way to possibly describe what you feel when you get news like that," Meryl Knox told AFP.

"It's just devastating, body numbing, mind numbing."

Martin Ewi, a senior researcher with the Pretoria-based think-tank, the Institute for Security Studies, said that "over 100" people were still unaccounted for since the attack.

"That's what we know so far," he said, but added that the situation on the ground was confusing.

On Wednesday, an unknown number of militants began attacking Palma, a town of around 75,000 people in the province of Cabo Delgado that is home to a multi-billion-dollar gas project being built by France's Total and other energy companies.

Human Rights Watch said the militants indiscriminately shot civilians in their homes and on the streets.

In the last three days, government security forces had prioritised "the rescue of hundreds of citizens, nationals and foreigners", said Saranga, without giving a breakdown of the numbers.

Some were temporarily taken to the heavily guarded gas plant located on the Afungi peninsula, on the Indian Ocean coast south of the Tanzanian border, before being moved to Pemba, around 250 kilometres south of Palma.

A boat laden with evacuees landed in Pemba on Sunday, according to police patrolling the city port.

According to a source close to the rescue operation, there were "about 1,400" people on board.

Those evacuated included non-essential staff of Total and Palma residents who had sought refuge at the gas plant.

Several other small boats packed with displaced people were on their way to Pemba and expected to arrive overnight or Monday morning, according to humanitarian aid agencies.

Airport officials in Pemba said humanitarian aid flights had been suspended to free up space for military operations.

Caritas, a Catholic aid agency which is active in the province, also reported new arrivals to Pemba. 

"Now we await the arrival of people who are most vulnerable so that we can provide assistance," the local head of Caritas, Manuel Nota, told AFP.

The militant attack on Palma is the closest yet to the major gas project during a three-year Islamist insurgency across Mozambique's north.

Since October 2017, extremist fighters have raided villages and towns in the region, forcing nearly 700,000 to flee their homes. 

Although they launched their campaign in 2017, experts say they had begun mobilising a decade earlier as disgruntled youths starting to practise a different type of Islam, drinking alcohol and entering mosques dressed in shorts and shoes.

The violence has now taken root and claimed at least 2,600 people lives, half of them civilians, according to the US-based data-collecting agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled).

Local media reports said British workers may have been caught up in the Palma attack, and Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said its embassy in Maputo was in "direct contact with authorities in Cabo Delgado to urgently seek further information on these reports".

"The UK wholeheartedly condemns the appalling violence in Cabo Delgado. It must stop," minister for Africa James Duddridge tweeted.

The United States, whose troops are helping train Mozambican forces to fight the insurgency, said Sunday it "continues to monitor the horrific situation in Palma", adding one American citizen who was in Palma had been safely evacuated.

The embassy announced earlier this month that American military personnel would spend two months training soldiers in Mozambique.

Massive ship blocking the Suez Canal has been freed

CAIRO, Egypt

A massive container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has been refloated, Bloomberg News reported, citing shipping services provider Inchcape.

The Ever Given had been stuck sideways across Egypt's canal since Tuesday, clogging a vital artery for the global economy and forcing multiple ships to turn around and reroute through Africa.

Tugboats are now working on straitening the vessel's course so it can continue moving up the canal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"It is good news," Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told The Journal. "We are not finished yet, but it has moved."

It is unclear how soon the canal would be opened up to the more than 400 ships that are stuck waiting for it to clear.

The 1,300 foot-long cargo ship, one of the world's largest, became wedged in the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning.

Egyptian officials initially blamed the weather, including strong winds and a dust storm. But on Saturday, officials said the logjam could be the result of "technical or human errors."

The nearly six-day blockage forced some ships to take a costly, dangerous detour thousands of miles around the southern tip of Africa, and was reportedly costing the global economy $400 million an hour in delayed goods.

Tugboats and excavators had been working to free the ship for days with little success.