7 people killed in mass anti-coup rallies in Sudan

CAIRO, Egypt 

Sudanese security forces shot seven people to death during anti-coup protests Thursday, a medical group said as thousands marched to denounce the country’s military rulers and demand an immediate transfer of power to civilians.

The Sudan’s Doctors Committee said in a tweet that five people were fatally shot when police fired live ammunition at protesters in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Across the Nile River in Khartoum, another person died from a gunshot wound in the head and a child died after being shot in the chest, according the group, which tracks casualties during protests. The identity of all seven was not immediately known.

A.lso in Khartoum, police fired tear gas at thousands of demonstrators trying to reach the Republican Palace, the military’s seat of power in the heart of the city. Videos showing thousands waving Sudanese flags and running under clouds of tear gas were posted on social media.

Other videos show demonstrators raising banners reading “No Negotiations! No Partnership” — reiterating their opposition to any power-sharing deal with the military rulers.

Sudan’s leading pro-democracy groups — Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change and the Resistance Committees — had called for nationwide protest Thursday to reiterate their demands for a reversal of the Oct. 25 military coup. The takeover upended the East African country’s short-lived transition to democracy following the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir.

Thursday’s protests also fell on the third anniversary of a 2019 mass rally that forced the generals to sit down at the negotiating table with pro-democracy groups and eventually sign a power-sharing agreement that was expected to govern Sudan during a transitional period, until general elections were to be held. The coup last October scuttled this arrangement.

"We’re very, very much gravely concerned by the continued use of excessive force by the government security forces in Sudan as they respond to protests and especially what we’ve seen today,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York. “It is imperative that people be allowed to express themselves freely and peacefully, and security forces in any country should be there to protect people’s right to do that, not to hinder it.”

Meanwhile, the London-based internet advocacy group, NetBlocks, said internet access was disrupted across many mobile and fixed-line internet providers in Sudan on Thursday, including state operator Sudantel, leaving national connectivity at only 17% of its ordinary level. Cuts to internet services have been routinely recorded ahead of most anti-coup protests.

"NetBlocks recommends against the use of network disruptions and social media restrictions to counter protests, given their disproportionate impact to fundamental rights including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,” said the London-based group.

The October coup triggered near-weekly street demonstrations, which authorities have met with a deadly crackdown that has so far killed 110 people, including Thursday’s casualties. Among those killed were 18 children, according to the Doctors Committee.

Hundreds of people, including prominent politicians and activists, have been detained, although many have been released recently as part of trust-building measures.

Since the coup, the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union, and the eight-nation east African regional Intergovernmental Authority in Development group have been trying to broker a way out of the political impasse. 

Earlier this month, the leading pro-democracy group finally agreed to sit with the generals in a meeting that was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

However, no breakthrough has materialized from these talks.

The only remains of DR Congo's "illustrious prime minister" buried

KINSHASA, DR Congo

The family of Democratic Republic of Congo’s murdered independence hero Patrice Lumumba buried his only known remains, a tooth, in the capital Kinshasa on Thursday, 61 years after his death at the hands of Belgian-backed secessionist rebels.

Hundreds gathered in a vast square for the occasion, waving flags and looking upon a large photo of Lumumba, with his trademark horn-rimmed glasses and side-swept hair, framed by white flowers.L

Lumumba was killed by a firing squad on Jan. 16, 1961 in the southeastern province of Katanga after being ousted as prime minister the previous year, all within months of Congo’s independence from Belgium.

A banner with the words “Many thanks, National Hero” was suspended over the crowd, which included the president of neighbouring Congo Republic, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Belgium’s foreign minister and several African ambassadors.

"Finally the Congolese people can have the honour of offering a burial to their illustrious prime minister,” President Felix Tshisekedi said. “We are ending … mourning we started 61 years ago.”

The funeral was held on the 62nd anniversary of the central African country’s independence. On that day, Lumumba gave a fiery speech lambasting Belgium’s 75-year colonisation of Congo.

Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister, Lumumba alarmed the West with overtures to Moscow at the height of the Cold War.

His government lasted just three months before he was overthrown and assassinated. Supporters and some historians accuse the CIA of involvement.

A Belgian parliamentary investigation into Lumumba’s killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was “morally responsible” for his death.

The body was never found. His only remaining tooth was reportedly taken by a Belgian policeman, Gerard Soete, who claimed to have dissolved much of the corpse in acid and burned the rest.

Belgium, whose King Philippe visited Congo for the first time this month, handed the tooth over to Lumumba’s family on June 20.

"Your return home, the honours you are receiving here are a page of the history you continue to write,” said one of his grand-daughters in a letter to Lumumba she read at the funeral.

"With you, today, Africa is writing its own history,” she said.

Tanzania President aligns army leadership as new CDF is appointed

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

The President of Tanzania, Samia Hassan has on Wednesday, June 29, appointed General Jacob John Mkunda as new Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) replacing the retiring CDF who was appointed to the position on 6 February 2017.

General Jacob John Mkunda

In a statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in Dar es Salaam said General Mkunda replaces CDF General Venance Mabeyo  has reached his statutory retirement age.

Prior to the new appointment Mkunda was the Chief of Operations and Training in the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF).

Meanwhile the President and Commander-In-Chief of Armed Forces promoted Major General Salum Haji Othman to Lieutenant General and appointed him as new Chief of Staff of the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF).

Prior to the appointment, Othman was Commissioner for Research and Military Development at the ministry of the defense and national services.

General Venance Mabeyo 

Also, the head of the state appointed Lieutenant General Mathew Edward Mkingule as ambassador. Before he was the chief of staffs of TPDF. All the new appointees will be sworn in on June 30, 2022 at State House Dar es Salaam.

General Mabeyo's profile shows that he began his military career in 1978 when he joined the Tanzanian National Service after he completed secondary school in 1977. 

Upon joining he was immediately drafted into the Uganda–Tanzania War. 

The War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: Vita vya Kagera) and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugandan President Idi Amin.

After the war, he formally joined the Tanzania People's Defense Force on January 1, 1979 and attended the course of a student officer and received a commission in 1980 as a Sub Lieutenant.

General Mabeyo attended various courses at home and abroad, some of which are Kenya, India, Canada and the United States. 

In his service to the Tanzania People's Defense Forces, he held various positions including Military Attaché in Rwanda, Assistant Chief of Army Staff, Head of Security and Recognition Branch and Commander-in-Chief of TPDF.

African Union concerned by escalating military tension between Ethiopia and Sudan

NAIROBI, Kenya 

The African Union says it is deeply concerned by “the escalating military tension” between Ethiopia and Sudan after seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian were killed in a border dispute.

The statement Wednesday by the chairman of the continent-wide organization urged both countries to cease armed hostilities and hold talks.

The incident happened in the disputed area of al-Fashaqa, which is known to Ethiopians as Alfashga.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry reported the eight victims had been taken into Ethiopia after the soldiers were held captive in an area inside Sudan on June 22. A separate statement from Sudan’s military described the killings as a “cowardly act” and said Khartoum would retaliate.

Ethiopian authorities have denied its government troops were responsible for the killings. A spokesman for the Ethiopian military blamed Sudanese forces for illegally entering Ethiopia and clashing with a local militia.

"Independent investigations into the matter can be launched with the participation of the two sides,” Getinent Adane said.

Residents of Tach Armacho, an Ethiopian town near the Sudan border, told The Associated Press by phone that their area was hit by heavy artillery fired from Sudan until Tuesday afternoon.

Ties between the neighboring countries have deteriorated in recent years amid a long-running border dispute over large swaths of agricultural land in the al-Fashaqa area. Sudan insists the lands are within its borders, according to an agreement that demarcated the boundary between their territories in the early 1900s.

Sporadic clashes have erupted over the past two years in that area, after Sudan said it reclaimed most of its territory and called on Ethiopia to withdraw troops from at least two locations it says are inside Sudan.

In November, Sudan said six of its troops were killed in an attack by Ethiopian military and militia forces in the area. The two nations have held talks, most recently in Khartoum in December 2020, to settle the dispute over al-Fashaqa, but have not made progress.

Ethiopia, in turn, says Sudan took advantage of the deadly conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region to enter Ethiopian territory. It has called for Sudanese troops to return to positions they held before fighting erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in November 2020, pitting Ethiopia’s federal forces against regional fighters. - AP

"No hidden agenda in cooperation with Rwanda" - Mozambique says

MAPUTO, Mozambique

The Mozambican High Commissioner to Rwanda, and former Interior Minister, Amade Miquidade, has guaranteed that there are no hidden interests in the cooperation between Mozambique and this central African country, which has a military and police contingent supporting the fight against islamist terrorism in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

Speaking to Mozambican journalists in Kigali, Miquidade said he could not understand why anybody should feel panic-stricken about cooperation with Rwanda extending beyond the military sphere into the economy.

"What is inconvenient about Rwanda, even though it is supporting Mozambique militarily, signing business contracts with us?”, he asked.

Miquidade said he regarded this economic cooperation as both logical and a “win-win” situation. He wished that Mozambican business people would be as proactive as their Rwandan counterparts.

He shrugged off the suggestion that Rwanda was only supporting Mozambique militarily, because of hidden economic interests. “There are lots of countries with whom we have signed agreements, including commercial ones”, he said.

Among the possible economic interests of Rwanda is the establishment of direct air links between Kigali and Mozambique. Rwanda might become the operator of Nacala airport in northern Mozambique, at least for cargo transport. 

Nacala airport, inaugurated in 2014, has been a millstone round the neck of the Mozambique Airports Company (ADM), because no international airlines are interested in flying there. To date, the only company that offers scheduled flights to Nacala is Mozambique Airlines (LAM).

As for the Rwandan military support, Miquidade placed it in the context of other struggles for the liberation of southern Africa. 

He pointed out that Mozambique had given its support to the struggle against the Ian Smith regime in what was then Rhodesia, and to the battle to overthrow apartheid in South Africa.

"We are not looking for anything other than the security and stability of our peoples and our countries”, stressed Miquidade.

He pointed out that the Rwandan constitution states that Rwanda must provide support wherever there are threats to security and peace and should be present whenever it is necessary to support brothers.

“These were the words we had the opportunity to hear from Rwandan President Paul Kagame, at a meeting with the diplomatic corps where he mentioned the need for African people to unite to create greater cohesion and to fight the evils that weaken some parts of the continent”.

Because of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Rwanda was acutely aware of the evils of destabilization, Miquidade added.

On the economic side, there was a great deal that Mozambique could export to Rwanda – but for this to become a reality, it needed an “aggressive” business class. Rwanda is a landlocked country, Miquidade said, and so Rwandan businesses are interested in buying fisheries produce from Mozambique.

There are already exports to Rwanda of some Mozambican agricultural products, such as sugar, and Miquidade was sure that Rwanda could also provide a market for Mozambican minerals. - Africa

Sudanese forces attack Ethiopian troops in Al-Fashaga area

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudanese army launched a large-scale attack on the Ethiopian troops remaining inside the disputed border area of Al Fashaga on Tuesday June 28, Sudan Tribune can confirm.

Destroyed Ethiopian military vehicles in Barkhat settlement, June 28 2022 (Courtesy)

The attack takes place after the murder of seven Sudanese soldiers that had been captured by Ethiopian forces on June 22, and their bodies were displayed in the streets and their photos circulated on social media.

Sudan Tribune reporter in the Gadaref said the Sudanese army retook Kala-Leban and Barkhat settlements and Tesfai Adawi Hills in the Fashaga.
He further added that the Sudanese army captured dozens of Ethiopian troops.

The army is now clearing a number of remaining small areas on the border, he further added.

On Monday, the Ethiopian government said the Sudanese soldiers had been captured inside the Ethiopian territory and killed by militiamen.
But the Sudanese army accused the Ethiopian army.

The Commander in Chief of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan pledged in statements he made in Al-Fashaga to revenge

Sudanese army attack Ethiopian forces in Al-Fashaga area.

The Egyptian presidency said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi who is visiting the Sultanate of Oman spoke with al-Burhan and offered his condolences “on the death of the martyrs of duty among the Sudanese soldiers”. - Sudan Tribune

25 killed in South Sudan clashes between civilians and army

JUBA, South Sudan

Authorities in South Sudan's Warrap State on Monday confirmed that 18 government soldiers and seven-armed youth were killed in clashes between the two groups in Rualbet Payam of Tonj North County on Saturday.

According to Warrap state officials, the SSPDF soldiers deployed to recover stolen cattle clashed with youth from the Awan Parek clan in Rualbet Payam.

The youths had radied 125 cattle from the Konggor section in Aliek Payam.

Among those killed were the Military Chief of Intelligence Division 11, Lt. Col. Akec Ciman Paac, SSPDF Division 11 Military Chief for Operations Maj. Santino Kuot Kuotdit and the former Mayen Jur County Commissioner Kuol Agok.

"It was on Thursday last week that criminals from Rualbet and Akop payams ganged up and went to Aliek payam of Konggor community and raided over 100 cattle and divided among themselves. So, the acting commissioner of Tonj North County ordered Major Gen. of Disarmament forces to recover cattle and when soldiers confiscated cattle and brought them to their base, they (SSPDF) were attacked and overrun," Warrap State Information minister Riing Deng Adiing.

He added, "18 both senior and junior officers were killed and some are missing and seven-armed youth also confirmed dead. We don't know the number of those wounded; we have to confirm."

Meanwhile, Bak Ajuot, acting commissioner of Tonj North County confirmed the incident but said the casualty numbers are still unclear as soldiers were scattered in the bushes. 

Ajuot said the clashes lasted for about six hours. He also pointed out that Rualdit Payam has no telephone network and they only get information from people travelling to and from the area.  

Warrap State, and particularly Tonj North County, has been the scene of bloody clashes in recent years between government forces and young armed civilians.

In August 2020, at least 127 people died in clashes between soldiers and youths from a local community, the Gelweng, who refused to be disarmed.

The young nation of 11 million is struggling to recover from a civil war and an entrenched economic and political crisis.

The five-year conflict, which pitted now-President Salva Kiir against his rival and current Vice President Riek Machar, killed almost 400,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.

A 2018 ceasefire and power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar still largely holds but little progress has been made in implementing its provisions.

The UN warned earlier this year that the country risks a return to conflict. - Africa

At least 46 found dead in abandoned Texas lorry

TEXAS, US

At least 46 people, believed to be migrants, have been found dead in an abandoned lorry on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas.

A fire official said 16 people including four children had also been taken to hospital.

The survivors were "hot to the touch" and suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

San Antonio, which is 250km (150 miles) from the US-Mexican border, is a major transit route for people smugglers.

Human traffickers often use lorries to transport undocumented migrants after meeting them in remote areas once they have managed to cross into the United States.

"They had families...and were likely trying to find a better life," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. "It's nothing short of a horrific, human tragedy."

Emergency responders initially arrived at the scene at about 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) after responding to reports of a dead body, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters.

"We're not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. None of us come to work imagining that," he said.

He added that the vehicle, which had been abandoned by its driver, had no working air conditioning and there was no drinking water inside it.

Mexico's Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said that two Guatemalans were among those taken to hospital. The nationalities of the other victims was not immediately clear.

Three people are being held in custody and the investigation has been handed over to federal agents.

Texas's Republican Governor Greg Abbott blamed US President Joe Biden for the deaths, describing them as a "result of his deadly open border policies".

Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate running against Mr Abbott, said the reports were devastating and called for urgent action to "dismantle human smuggling rings and replace them with expanded avenues for legal migration".

Immigration is a contentious political issue in the United States, where in May a record numbers of undocumented migrants were detained crossing into the country from Mexico - many traveling along extremely risky and unsafe routes.

Fleeing poverty and violence in Central America, many of the undocumented migrants end up paying huge sums of cash to people smugglers to get them across the US border.

San Antonio's climate is hot in the summer months with temperatures there reaching 39.4C (103F) on Monday.

Tanzania and Kenya still locked in trade dispute

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya says Tanzania has doubled the cost of export permits by 93 percent, a move likely to open another round of trade dispute between the two East African countries.

Courtesy

According to the claims, the authorities in Tanzania have increased the cost of acquiring export permits from the previous Sh27, 000 per truck to Sh52, 000, according to border officials.

The move caused a huge snarl-up of trucks moving to Kenya in the last one week as traders and truckers were caught off guard by the new requirement.

“Tanzania has increased the charges that it levies on export permit to Sh52, 000 per truck creating confusion at the border but activities are slowly coming back to normal,” said an officer of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) who will not be named as he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Hundreds of trucks were left stranded at the border the whole of last week as truck owners updated their export permits to meet the new requirements. However, officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) told the Business Daily that they resumed the clearing of trucks last week.

“We have now seen some movement of trucks from Tanzania to Kenya. We have carried out some samples of the goods getting into Kenya, meaning that the normal flow of trucks is slowly gaining momentum,” said a Kebs official.

The new directive is set to hit millers who are banking on Tanzania for imports of maize to meet the current shortage in the country. It is also likely to spark another round of trade war between Kenya and Tanzania slightly over a year after the two countries resolved their differences that had impacted negatively on cross-border trade.

The long-standing trade disputes had slowed down the flow of goods across common borders since 2019.

Tanzania had in 2020 imposed a 25 per cent import duty on Kenyan confectionery, including juice, ice cream, chocolate, sweets and chewing gums, claiming Kenya had used zero-rated industrial sugar imports to produce them.

Kenya banned Tanzanian tour vans from accessing the Maasai Mara National Reserve, arguing that Tanzania had banned Kenyan operators from accessing the Serengeti National Park.

Tanzania escalated the trade spat in February last year when it imposed fresh quality verification standards for Kenyan products.

These differences were, however, resolved when the new Tanzanian President Samia Hassan visited Nairobi last year for a bilateral meeting with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta. - Business Daily 

Russia strikes Kyiv as Western leaders meet in Europe

KYIV, Ukraine

Russia shattered weeks of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital with long-range missiles fired toward Kyiv early Sunday, an apparent Kremlin show-of-force as Western leaders meet in Europe to strengthen their military and economic support of Ukraine.

Servicemen work at the scene at a residential building following explosions, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Several explosions rocked the west of the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, with at least two residential buildings struck, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the missiles hit at least two residential buildings, and President Volodymr Zelenskyy said a 37-year-old man was killed and his 7-year-old daughter and wife injured. Associated Press journalists saw emergency workers battling flames and rescuing civilians.

The strikes also damaged a nearby kindergarten, where a crater pocked the courtyard. U.S. President Joe Biden called the attacks “barbarism” after he arrived in Germany for a Group of Seven summit.

Later Sunday, a local official reported a second death, telling the Unian news agency that a railroad worker was killed and several others were injured in the attacks while servicing rail infrastructure.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said the first air-launched weapons successfully to target the capital since June 5 were Kh-101 cruise missiles fired from warplanes over the Caspian Sea, more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away.

Kyiv’s mayor told journalists he thought the airstrikes were “maybe a symbolic attack” ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid that starts Tuesday. A former commander of U.S. forces in Europe said the strikes also were a signal to the leaders of G-7 nations meeting Sunday in Germany.

“Russia is saying, ‘We can do this all day long. You guys are powerless to stop us,’” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of U.S. Army forces in Europe, said. “The Russians are humiliating the leaders of the West.”

The G-7 leaders were set to announce the latest in a long series of international economic steps to pressure and isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine: new bans on imports of Russian gold. Standing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the three-day meeting’s host, Biden said of the missile strikes on Kyiv: “It’s more of their barbarism.”

Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, appealed to the G-7 leaders for more help, saying stopping Russian aggression “is possible only if we get everything we ask for, and in the time we need it - weapons, financial support and sanctions against Russia.”

A Ukrainian parliament member, Oleksiy Goncharenko, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that preliminary information indicated that Russia launched 14 missiles toward the capital region and Kyiv itself. Zelenskyy said some were intercepted, and he vowed revenge against “all pilots, dispatchers, technicians and other people who ensure the launch of missiles in Ukraine.”

“We will find you all. Each of you will be responsible for these blows,” Zelenskyy vowed. “And if someone thinks he will evade responsibility by saying that this was an order, you are wrong. When your missiles hit homes, it’s a war crime. The court is what awaits you all. And you will not hide anywhere - neither on the shores of the Caspian Sea, over which your missiles are launched, nor in Belarus ... Nowhere.”

In a phone interview, retired U.S. general Hodges told The Associated Press that Russia has a limited stock of precision missiles and “if they are using them, it’s going to be for a special purpose,”

Russia has denied targeting civilians during the 4-month-old war, and Hodges said it was hard to know if the missiles launched Sunday were intended to strike the apartments buildings.

Russian forces tried to seize control of Kyiv early in the war. After Ukrainian troops repelled them, the Kremlin largely shifted its focus to southern and eastern Ukraine.

Russian rocket strikes in the city of Cherkasy, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kyiv, killed one person and injured five, regional governor Ihor Taburets said Sunday.

From left, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pose for a group photo at Castle Elmau in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Sunday, June 26, 2022.

In the east, Russian troops fought to consolidate their gains by battling to swallow up the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Luhansk province. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Sunday that Russia was conducting intense airstrikes on the city of Lysychansk, destroying its television tower and seriously damaging a road bridge.

“There’s very much destruction. Lysychansk is almost unrecognizable,” he wrote on Facebook.

For weeks, Lysychansk and the nearby city of Sievierodonetsk have been subject to a bloody and destructive offensive by Russian forces and their separatist allies aimed at capturing all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

They have made steady and slow progress, with Haidai confirming Saturday that Sievierodonetsk, including a chemical plant where hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians were holed up, had fallen.

Commenting on the battle for Sievierodonetsk, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said late Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now control not only the city but the villages surrounding it. He said the Russian military had thwarted Ukrainian forces’ attempt to turn the Azot chemical plant into a “stubborn center of resistance.”

Capturing Lysychansk would give Russian and separatist forces control of every major settlement in Luhansk. At last report, they controlled about half of Donetsk, the second province in the Donbas.

On Saturday, Russia launched dozens of missiles on several areas across the country far from the heart of the eastern battles. Some of the missiles were fired from Russian long-range Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine’s air command said.

Reacting to the shelling from the Russian bombers, Zelenskyy appealed to the people of Belarus to resist cooperation with the Russian military. “The Russian leadership wants to draw you - all Belarusians - into the war, wants to sow hatred between us,” he said in his video address Sunday. “You can refuse to participate in this war. Your lives belong only to you, not to someone in the Kremlin.”

Belarus hosts Russian military units and was used as a staging ground before Russia invaded Ukraine, but its own troops have not crossed the border. In a meeting Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.

On the economic front, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said banning imports of Russian gold would represent a significant escalation of sanctions.

“That is the second-most lucrative export that Russia has after energy.” Blinken told American news channel CNN. “It’s about $19 billion a year. And most of that is within the G-7 countries. So cutting that off, denying access to about $19 billion of revenues a year, that’s significant.”

Russia is poised to default on its foreign debt for the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, further alienating the country from the global financial system following international sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.

The country faces a Sunday night deadline to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments originally due May 27. But it could take time to confirm a default.

Russia calls any default artificial because it has the money to pay its debts but says sanctions have frozen its foreign currency reserves held abroad. - AP

Uganda President meets army chiefs over alert order

KAMPALA, Uganda

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, on Sunday June 26 met the top military leadership in the south-western Ntungamo District, days after all UPDF soldiers were put on standby class 1, the highest level of military readiness.

President Museveni (C) met with the UPDF Service Chiefs at 401 Brigade Headquarters in Irenga, Ntungamo District on June 26.

“I met with the UPDF Service Chiefs at 401 Brigade Headquarters in Irenga, Ntungamo District,” the President tweeted at 8:56pm last evening.

He offered no details of their discussions, and it remained unclear why he announced that the meeting had taken place.

A 57-second video clip tweeted under the President’s name appeared to show him admiring undulating terrains of south-western Uganda and departing after speaking to a small crowd of residents.

Highly-placed security and intelligence sources, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Gen Museveni summoned the military honchos on Friday after disparate messages were transmitted to the rank-and-file in the week.

Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, the deputy chief of defence forces (D/CDF), without giving a reason, on Wednesday ordered the UPDF to ensure the highest level of preparedness.

He called the emergency notification “imara”, a Kiswahili word in the context variously interpreted to imply the rank-and-file of the military should keep solid, tough or resilient

Standby Class 1 is the highest level of alertness in the military and the order means there should be no troop or equipment movement, pending a final instruction.

Placing the military on Standby Class 1 is a rare occurrence, and for the UPDF, this is one is many years. For instance, the army is known not to have activated such high level of preparedness for emergency even when insecurity blamed on Karimojong cattle rustlers spiralled into neighbouring Teso, Sebei and Lango sub-regions, or when alleged ADF terrorists detonated bombs last year.
There is nothing to suggest a breakdown or disconnect in overall command and control of the UPDF. 

Sources said only a senior UPDF spymaster at the rank of major general flew to south-western Uganda for official duty at the weekend.

Since the Standby Class 1 order went out, all commanders have been directed to account for personnel in area of responsibility, including actual locations and what they are doing.

In some services, a roll call of troops is conducted twice a day, in the morning and evening.

The radio call message about the order did not specify why the emergency military mode was being activated, or how long it would last.

In comments on Thursday for our Friday lead, UPDF place on high alert, army Spokesman, Brig Felix Kulayigye, described the order as “… a normal military decision [depending on] whether something is upcoming or an undertaking is to be done.”

According to highly placed sources, Lt Gen Elwelu issued the instructions because the Chief of Defence of Forces (CDF), Gen Wilson Mbadi, was in Kenya where he had been for days, working with regional counterparts to thrash out details of the composition, command, resourcing and operation of the envisaged East African Community Force to pacify eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

However, shortly after the Standby Class 1 directive, the Commander of Land Forces (CLF) and First Son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, reportedly issued a radio message different from that of DCDF regarding troops under his command.

Details of the disparate messages to the same military reached President Museveni, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, after his triumphant entry into Kigali, the Rwandan capital, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) also attended by the British royalty.

It is understood that an investigation is underway into concerns that gave the  original basis for issuance of  the Standby Class 1 order.

Highly-placed sources told this newspaper that Gen Museveni, who referenced Lt Gen Elwelu’s order, subsequently issued his own radio call message in which he also summoned the CDF, his Deputy Elwelu, First Son and CLF Muhoozi, Service Chiefs and any commander deemed relevant to the intended discussion.

The trio was present in a photo accompanying the president’s post-meeting tweet which divulged no details.

Asked about the outcome last night, Brig Kulayigye referred this reporter to “the source that leaked to you information about the Standby [Class1 order”.

In an unrelated development, the UPDF yesterday received a fourth Mi-28 attack helicopter, and two more are expected to be delivered by the end of next month. 

Uganda’s procurement of the highly optimised, Russian-made fifth generation helicopters, were confirmed when the helicopters could be spotted in a photograph officially shared by State House depicting President Museveni during a visit to thank the Air Force for degrading the capabilities of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the early days of Operation Shuja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Besides excessive hellfire power, the helicopters, more advanced than Mi-24 and Mi-38 available in the region, offer air superiority due to their high manoeuvrability, survivability, weapons employment and ultra-modern equipment for detection and target destruction in all weather, both day and night.

It can fire bullets, bombs and missiles --- with precision of up to 8 kilometres --- on targets identified either using laser beams, infrared or thermos-imaging. – Daily Monitor

20 people die in South African pub

EAST LONDON, South Africa

At least 20 young people have died at a township pub in South Africa's southern city of East London, but the cause of the deaths is still unclear.

Senior officials from the provincial government rushed to the scene, where at least six mortuary vehicles were lined up in the residential street waiting to collect the bodies, according to an AFP correspondent.

Drinking is permitted in South African township pubs, commonly known as taverns or shebeens which are sometimes located in family homes, where safety regulations are rarely enforced.

"The number has increased to 20, three have died in hospital. But there are still two who are very critical," the head of the provincial government safety department Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe said on local TV.

A visibly shocked head of the Eastern Cape Province Oscar Mabuyane spoke from outside the scene, a building surrounded by houses in an area called Scenery Park.

"It's absolutely unbelievable, we can't understand it, losing 20 young lives just like that," he told reporters, condemning "this unfortunate consumption, unlimited consumption of liquor".

"You can't just trade in the middle of society like this and think that young people are not going to experiment," he said.

Empty bottles of alcohol, wigs and even a pastel purple "Happy Birthday" sash lay strewn on the dusty street outside the double-storey Enyobeni Tavern, according to Unathi Binqose, a safety government official who arrived at the scene at dawn.   

Provincial police spokesman brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana told AFP that police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

He said the victims at Enyobeni Tavern were aged between 18 and 20 years, but provincial community and safety department official Binqose said some could be as young as 15.

Ruling out a stampede as the cause of death, Binqose told AFP "there are no visible open wounds to those dead".

"Forensic (investigators) will take samples and test to see if there was any poisoning of any sort," he said.

"One thing for sure, the place had a lot more people than it normally takes," he added.

A local newspaper website, DispatchLive, reported that "bodies are lying strewn across tables, chairs and on the floor; with no obvious signs of injury".

Binqose said he understood many of the patrons were students "celebrating pens down, a party held after writing (high school) exams".

Local television showed police officers trying to calm down a crowd of parents and onlookers gathered outside the club in the city, which lies on the Indian Ocean coast, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Johannesburg.

"Parents whose children did not sleep at home are gathered here and they want to enter the tavern to look for their loved ones," said Binqose.

Tanzania stands ground on Maasai move

NAIROBI, Kenya

So far missing from the raging international controversy on the relocation of Maasai families from Loliondo, in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro area, is Msomera village, about 50 kilometres from Handeni township in Tanga region, 600 kilometres away from Loliondo.

This vast and sparsely populated rural landscape bordering Kibindi district and Manyara region is the government’s final destination of choice for the Maasai families relocated from Loliondo.

Tanzanian authorities have in the past two weeks aggressively pushed ahead with the relocation of the pastoral Maasai community from Loliondo, despite criticism by civil society and anthropologists around the world.

The government has been at pains to dismiss widespread claims from critics both at home and abroad that Loliondo, a designated 4,000-square kilometre game-controlled area in Arusha Region's Ngorongoro district, is Maasai ancestral land which would render their relocation more of an eviction.

But by Thursday last week, 40 households in Loliondo, among them 237 people of both Maasai and Hadzabe communities had been moved, with their livestock, to Msomera, at government cost, according to the Tanga Regional Commissioner.

The relocation is a closely co-ordinated effort between at least five line ministries working under the direct supervision of Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, an indication of how much President Samia Suluhu’s administration wants it to happen despite the negative international attention.

The first batch of 20 households arrived a week ago and the second batch, also comprising 20 households, arrived on Thursday night. Another 60 or more households, said to have agreed to the ‘‘voluntary’’ move from Loliondo, will be arriving here in phases as the government hastens the infrastructure construction and upgrade in this 162,000-hectare area dedicated to the relocation.

The plan is to give each household up to 10 acres of land for grazing their herds, subsistence agriculture and other needs as comfortably as possible, government officials told The EastAfrican on our visit this week. "The objective of this operation from the outset was to ensure that those being settled here will find better standards of social services from day one," said a government official who sought anonymity.

The current Loliondo land saga goes back to 1992 when a Dubai-based hunting company, Otterlo Business Corporation, acquired an exclusive hunting permit for 4,000 square kilometres in Loliondo, by way of a permit obtained through a controversial 25-year deal with the government. Critics of this deal say the Dubai firm has since been lobbying to have 1,500 square kilometres of the land cleared of human settlement for uninterrupted trophy hunting.

This led to a confrontation between the Maasai pastoralists on the land and local police, which culminated in a court case at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), with the court granting an injunction to prevent "eviction" of Maasai from Loliondo. The injunction is still in place.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in a June 19 statement called on Tanzanian authorities to respect the EACJ injunction and "ensure appropriate peaceful measures are undertaken towards recognising, respecting and protecting the rights of the Maasai communities." "Intimidations of community members be stopped," the IUCN said.

"What is required is a fair, just and equitably governed consultative process to identify long-term solutions, and to investigate and address human rights violations related to nature conservation, including any establishment, amendment or expansion of protected or conserved areas."

It is therefore curious, why the government has decided now to disregard it and go ahead with the evictions, and in the process spending billions of shillings on the actual relocation and to ‘’develop’’ Msomera.

Priority infrastructure listed by the government includes water supplies for both domestic and animal, health and education facilities, upgraded roads and communication infrastructure. But even more, money is being spent on the logistics of transporting families in minibuses, and trucks for the herds, probably running into billions of shillings. Government sources say an official budget for the exercise has not been shared even internally, pointing to how controlled the entire operation is.

A quick spot check by The EastAfrican confirmed official government updates on the relocation operation, such as the ongoing construction of a Tsh1.99 billion ($8.5 million) dam, 167,000-litre storage tank and pump house, and laying of pipes to cover an initial six kilometres of the 20-kilometre distribution network mapped out in the project blueprint.

The existing Msomera village dispensary has been renovated and there are plans to build a larger and more modern health centre; two newly built schools, one primary, one secondary, are ready to admit students but are waiting certification by school inspectors.

There are ongoing upgrades on the road links to Handeni and Korogwe - the closest urban centre. Government officials say the roads component of the project alone will cost Tsh2.53 billion ($1.1 million).

At least 100 of the 500 planned new houses for the resettled families have already been built, a project being undertaken by Tanzanian army conscripts. Private contractors — including one Chinese — are working round the clock to complete connecting the village to the power grid. Currently, only a few houses have electricity, including 20 of the newly built homes for the new families.

Back in Loliondo, no one knows what will happen to the families who have refused the voluntary relocation.

On Wednesday the government appeared to further tighten the screw on those opposed to the relocation and Commissioner General of Immigration Anna Makakala announced a 10-day special operation to weed out all "illegal immigrants" in the Loliondo area.

“I am warning people who have entered the country illegally to officially get proper documentation to legitimise their stay and operate within the confines of the laws of the country,” she said in Loliondo, where she was inspecting progress of demarcation and beacon placing for the planned game reserve.

The announcement came on the back of reports of violent clashes between police and Maasai out to stop the beacon demarcation.

According to Tourism and Natural Resources Minister Pindi Chana, the intention is to turn 1,500 sq km of the Loliondo Game Controlled Area into a full-fledged Game Reserve to strike a balance between conservation and livelihoods and "protect the area for the best interests of the nation at large."

The Loliondo Game Controlled Area was established in 1951 as a strategic area for the protection of Serengeti and Maasai Mara cross-border ecosystems in Tanzania and Kenya.

The new Game Reserve will be named Pololeti, said Ms Chana saying 400 beacons have already been placed to demarcate the area for the new reserve.

The government has cited the rapid growth of human and livestock population in the area since 1959, from 8,000 to 110,000 people, and from 260,000 to over one million heads of cattle, too much to warrant their removal to prevent human wildlife conflict.

In Msomera, the relocation has a silver lining. Long-time Handeni resident Jackson Kagonji, says Msomera was a backward place, and not even public teachers wanted to be posted there because there was no electricity, water and the roads were hell. “Now it's slowly turning into a kind of paradise before our very eyes," he said.

According to Handeni district administrative secretary Mashaka Mgeta, before the project began Msomera was listed as a government Reserve Area with a population not exceeding 6,000 and made up of local Zigua livestock keepers with a few Maasai pastoralists who wandered through and some settled.

Mr Mgeta said the idea of having Maa community here was therefore not strange, only that the earlier Maasai settlers here were not from Loliondo but Maasai lands.

Richard Tobiko, a father-of-two who was among the first batch to relocate to Msomera from Loliondo with his young family a week ago, says so far, the experience was good and "not only did we receive a generous compensation package but they also provided the transport to bring us and our livestock here plus a real brick house and all basic amenities including grazing land, water and electricity. We can hardly believe this kind of generosity from the government," Mr Tobiko said.

The family runs a little grocery shop from their house. He said "Back in Loliondo we lived in mud huts with no electricity, no good hospitals, and we were forbidden to do any kind of business. So it's like a dream come true." "And even though I have relatives in Loliondo still calling us sell-outs, my advice to all the doubters back there is that they should come see for themselves what is on offer, then make a decision whether to join us or not." - The EastAfrican