Cabo Delgado residents finds bodies in clash zones

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Residents of a village in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, announced this Monday the discovery of two bodies believed to have been victims of recent clashes with rebels in the region.

"They are unidentified people, and they were buried,” reported a 44-year-old man who wished to remain anonymous. He was among a group of residents of the lower part of the district of Muidumbe who made the discovery as they were travelling to the village of Mandela.

"It is a village that still needs the presence of security forces, because there are signs of violence. We saw some burned houses,” another local source said.

Part of the population fled and is temporarily living in other areas, such as Nanhala, Chapa and Chudi in the neighbouring Mueda district, which has been hosting displaced people since the beginning of the conflict because it is seen as safe.

However, the “lack of job opportunities and scarcity of food support” is causing “many people [to] want to return”, he added, even in the knowledge that isolated attacks still occur in remote areas.

To the south, in Macomia, another district experiencing the armed insurgency, the population announced this Monday the discovery of more improvised graves in the bush, this time containing the bodies of three people who had been missing since the beginning of May, including a 7-year-old child.

The victims were part of a group from the community of Chitoio, in the administrative post of Chai, who had gone foraging in the bush, a local source said.

The seven residents were surprised by an armed group, and only four succeeded in returning to the village.

“We want to survive, but I don’t even know how we can remain here,” the source complained.

After that incident, the Local Force militia reinforced their presence, recommending a 5:00 p.m. curfew, because “from then on, the village is under the control of the local force”, it was explained.

"The local force [militia] has always worked, and if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. But there are circulation restrictions, especially at night,” said the same source.

Chitoio is close to the Messalo river, bordering the district of Muidumbe.

Mozambican Defence and Security Forces are carrying out an operation called Vulcão IV in the area, with the aim of dismantling rebel hideouts in Muidumbe and Macomia.

Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July, 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near the province’s natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations, and cost around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

At least $900,000 stolen by employees of US-based aid group operating in Congo

DAKAR, Senegal

An American-based aid group said that at least $900,000 was stolen from it’s Congo programs by members of the organization who conspired with outsiders.

GiveDirectly said that it learned that people on its Congo team worked with people outside the organization to defraud the cash transfer program, diverting aid from more than 1,700 impoverished families over six months, starting in August 2022.

“This fraud was only possible because of a specific change we made in our payment process in order to work in this remote, insecure region of (Congo),” according to the statement from Monday. “We feel deep regret for not catching this sooner and take seriously the vulnerabilities it exposed,” it said.

GiveDirectly said that an investigation is ongoing and that it was able to recover “a very small portion of the lost funds,” but the majority of the $900,000 will likely be “uncoverable.” But the group is working to ensure that families impacted by the fraud get their money.

More than 1% of money delivered last year was lost to fraud, the highest amount to date, GiveDirectly said.

Eastern Congo, where the group operates, has experienced conflict for decades. About 120 armed groups are fighting in the region mostly for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities. More than 5.5 million people are displaced in Congo, and more than 26 million are facing hunger, according to the United Nations.

The decades-long crisis and widespread poverty have fueled an environment ripe for corruption among aid organizations, analysts say.

“It is unsurprising that the development sector is a target for corruption given its prominent role in the country’s economy. Billions of development dollars flow into (Congo) every year and it is likely that a sizeable portion of this is lost to corruption,” Benjamin Hunter, Africa analyst for risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft, said Tuesday.

GiveDirectly delivers cash transfers globally, delivering more than $650 million to people in roughly a dozen countries, the majority in Africa. It provides aid through mobile money, a technology to send and receive funds using a SIM card, which it says avoids many forms of fraud. Once the money’s deposited, people can withdraw the cash at a mobile money station.

While the group normally registers people with an independent money agent, gives them SIM cards and deposits funds on it, due to the insecurity in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, where it was operating, GiveDirectly said it made an exception to it’s normal procedures.

Instead of people registering with independent mobile agents, which often meant making them travel long distances, the group used its own enrollment team.

“We now know that while enrolling villages in South Kivu, some staff conspired to register payment SIMs to the recipients’ names (per the special exception granted), pocket those registered SIMs, and put different SIMs in recipients’ phones,” the organization said. GiveDirect sent cash transfers to the registered SIM cards, many of which had been stolen by the staff, who with outside help from money agents and former employees, diverted funds intended for people in need, it said.

Give Directly said that the case was concerning for three reasons:

1. “the scale of the fraud, at the expense of people in extreme poverty

2. “the number of our own team members who participated

3. “the failure of our systems to prevent it.”

The group said it has no reason to suspect this fraud extends beyond its eastern Congo programs.

However, an investigation by The New Humanitarian, which broke the story, said that another of the organization’s programs was being audited in one of its sub-Saharan Africa operations. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the allegation and GiveDirectly didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seven African countries in the list of the most neglected crises

OSLO, Norway

Burkina Faso, plagued by jihadist violence since 2015, is experiencing "the most neglected crisis in the world" according to an annual ranking published Thursday by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

The NGO publishes each year the list of the ten most "neglected" population displacement crises, based on three criteria: the lack of political will of the international community, media coverage and humanitarian funding.

According to the NRC, Burkina - in second place in the ranking last year - has "more than 14,000 people" killed in the past five years, "half of them since January 2022" and more than two million internally displaced people.

In 2022, "increasing violence and displacement (of populations) have left almost one in four Burkinabè in need of humanitarian assistance", adds the report.

"Only 42% of the humanitarian financial aid requested has been distributed in 2022", he specifies.

The report also mentions the numerous attacks on water points by armed groups which deprived 830,000 people of water as well as the closure of 6,200 schools, affecting more than one million children.

“Political instability adds another layer to the crisis with two military coups”, in 2022, continues the NRC.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is second in this ranking, due to the "multiple crises" in the east of the country in particular. Colombia and its "60 years of armed conflict" is third ahead of Sudan and Venezuela.

Burundi, Mali, Cameroon, El Salvador and Ethiopia complete this top 10.

The NGO also criticizes the unequal treatment by the international community of certain crises compared to the support given to Ukraine.

"For every dollar raised by a person in need in Ukraine, only 25 cents were raised per inhabitant in need in the ten most neglected crises in the world", raises the NRC, which affirms that "negligence is a choice ", however "reversible".

The NRC recommends "providing humanitarian assistance according to the needs of affected populations, and not according to geopolitical interests or the degree of media attention given to certain crises".

Angola and Portugal sign cooperation agreements in 13 areas

LUANDA, Angola

Angolan President, João Lourenço, signed a series of new bilateral cooperation agreements with Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, during a two-day state visit by the Premier to Angola’s capital city of Luanda.

President Lourenço received Prime Minister Costa on 5 June at the Presidential Palace in Luanda.

During the two-day visit, talks between delegations of the two countries resulted in the signing of 13 agreements, including a Strategic Cooperation Program 2023-2027 and the reinforcement of the Portugal-Angola credit line from $1.6 to $2.1 billion.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the administrations of the Portuguese ports of Sines and the Algarve and the Angolan Barra do Dande Development Society was also signed.

“What we need is to increase Portuguese investment in Angola wherever possible,” stated President Lourenço, adding, “I have to say that we sensed a great willingness to collaborate on the part of the Portuguese justice system, with whom we were able to exchange not only information, but also the alignment of Angola’s anti-corruption strategy, and to say that in principle, everything that was asked of the Portuguese authorities so that we could find the right correspondent.”

Poised to contribute to the diversification of Angola’s economy – a stated priority by the country’s Government – the cooperation agreements are indicative of the strong presence of Portuguese companies operating in Angola and the ongoing strength of Luso-Angolan relations.

According to Prime Minister Costa, the visit represents “a concrete mark of the strengthening of cooperation between two friendly countries at a very high moment in Portuguese-Angolan relations,” and will serve to “respond to President João Lourenço’s ambition for Portugal to contribute to the diversification of the Angolan economy.”

The Angolan delegation featured the participation of the country’s Ministers of Finance, Fernando Medina; of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho; of Economy, António Costa Silva; of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes; and by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Andre.

With activities ranging from energy, telecommunications, banking, engineering and construction, agro-industry, tourism, and education, Portugal serves as one of Angola’s most important international partners. Over the past three years, exports from Angola to Portugal represented a total $1.2 million, while imports represented a total $4.5 million. - Africa

Kenya closes embassy in Khartoum as violence worsens

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya government says it has shut down its embassy in Khartoum to protect staff, in what could close the door on any further evacuation for civilians and signal bad days ahead in the Sudan war.

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said on Monday that Nairobi’s diplomats in Khartoum were facing safety risks, forcing the government to close the embassy, and upending Kenya’s initial policy of staying around to help pursue peace.

“We continue to receive disturbing news of the targeting of diplomatic officials by armed groups in Khartoum, Sudan,” he wrote on Twitter.

“[The] Kenya Mission in Khartoum which had remained open to facilitate evacuation of any Kenyans still in the country is now closed,” he added.

After war broke out on April 15, Kenya said it had helped rescue as many as 900 nationals plus those of other countries trapped in Khartoum. But officials said they would not close down the embassy as part of efforts to stay in contact with warring parties; the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At a press briefing with his host Antony Blinken in Washington, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua had said Kenya’s embassy would remain open as part of regional efforts to have parties deescalate.

“As an African continent and the AU and intergovernmental organisation called IGAD, we are trying to find solutions for Sudan.  I know you’ve pulled your teams out.  Kenya is not pulling its diplomatic offices.  We’re not shutting them down because we want to have a presence as we negotiate,” Mutua had said on April 24.

This move may both reflect the escalating violence in Khartoum and the failure to have parties, at least respect a ceasefire. There have been six ceasefire deals between the SAF led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his nemesis Mohamed Daglo Hemedti. In all occasions, fighting continued. By Monday, UN agencies estimated that more than 1000 people had been killed and over 800,000 displaced, either internally or forced to neighbouring countries for refuge.

Last week, a mediation project pursued by Saudi Arabia and the US, and known as the Jeddah Talks, was suspended after the US labelled the parties unserious to end the war.

On Monday, however, mediators in Jeddah said they were still engaging parties to see how to resume.

Despite the formal pause on June 3 of the five-day ceasefire agreement, a statement from Jeddah said, “facilitators continue to engage them daily.”

“Those discussions are focused on facilitating humanitarian assistance and reaching agreement on near-term steps the parties must take before the Jeddah talks resume.

“Facilitators stand ready to resume formal talks and remind the parties that they must implement their obligations under the May 11 Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan.”

Saudi Arabia’s influence on the warring parties in Sudan was always seen as a crucial tool to help end the war. But the fact that fighting continued even after ceasefire has illustrated a possible breakdown in command structures.

Back in April, Mutua blamed unnamed Middle East countries for taking sides, and fueling the war.

“We have been quite concerned by some of our friends in the Middle East as (inaudible) Russia and others who for a long time have been friendly to either one or the other side.  And we are just saying that at this particular time, it is not a time to take sides in a war,” he said on April 24.

“We care about Sudan.  As part of the African Union, we want to silence the guns in Sudan, want to find an African solution to African problems with the support of our friends.  But we can’t effectively do that if we are talking to groups that are being strengthened every day by the parties who believe that all they need to do is to fight to the end.”

Last week, the African Union launched its ‘roadmap’ to attempt peace in Sudan by involving more political and civilian movements. It is yet to gain traction.

Libyans meet to discuss elections

TRIPOLI, Libya

Libyan leaders are slated to meet in Morocco on Monday to finalize a deal on new electoral laws, but any agreement they announce on voting rules or a new interim government is likely to trigger opposition that may further delay the political process.

House of Representatives (HoR) head Aguila Saleh and High State Council (HSC) head Khaled al-Mishri left for Morocco early in the morning and were hoping to wrap up an agreement, an HoR member and Meshri's spokesperson said.

The two would likely present any deal as a major breakthrough after months of paralysis - U.N. envoy Adoulaye Bathily has said there could be national elections by the end of the year if a deal is reached this month.

However, 61 HoR members and some HSC members have already objected to the way their leaders have been negotiating their agreement, and have said they will oppose its ratification.

Disputes over fundamental constitutional issues including the role of a president and parliament, and over key questions of electoral law including the eligibility of divisive candidates, have long challenged Libya's political process.

The country has had little peace or security since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ended four decades of rule by Moammar Gaddafi. Libya split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions that still control most territory.

Since the main factions agreed a ceasefire in 2020, peace efforts have focused on pushing for national elections to create governing institutions with broad political legitimacy that the existing bodies are widely seen to lack.

The HoR was elected as a national parliament in 2014 to a four-year term. The HSC was created as part of a political agreement in 2015 from members of an earlier interim parliament elected in 2012.

The Government of National Unity in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah was created in 2021 as part of a U.N.-backed process, but it was only supposed to govern until national elections that were planned for the end of that year.

'Rwanda wants 55 genocide fugitives' - Malawi government

LILONGWE, Malawi

Malawi's government said on Monday that Rwanda has asked it to help apprehend 55 fugitives wanted in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide believed to be hiding in the country.

FILE: Nyabimana (first name unknown), 26, shows machete wounds at an International Committee of the Red Cross Hospital in Nyanza, some 35 miles southwest of Kigali, Rwanda, on June 4, 1994.

Malawi's Minister of Homeland Security, Ken Zikhale Ng'oma, said Kigali lodged an official request for assistance as it seeks to locate the suspected "warlords."

"The Rwandan government has sought assistance from the Malawi government in identifying 55 suspects who are currently hiding in Malawi. These individuals are known warlords," Ng'oma told a press conference in the capital Lilongwe.

The suspects allegedly hiding in Malawi are wanted in connection with "the deaths of over 2,000 people in some churches," Ng'oma said, giving no further details.

Rwanda's request comes weeks after Fulgence Kayishema, one of four remaining fugitives sought by U.N. investigators for their role in the genocide, was arrested in South Africa after more than two decades on the run.

Kayishema, who used many aliases and false documents, is thought to have travelled on a Malawian passport.

Ng'oma said authorities were "conducting thorough investigations" into how the now 62-year-old acquired the document and would be providing "a comprehensive report soon."

Around 800,000 Rwandans, most of them ethnic Tutsis, were slaughtered over just 100 days in 1994 at the hands of Hutu extremists. - Africa

Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying major dam near Kherson

KYIV, Ukraine

Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine they control, threatening a massive flood that could displace hundreds of thousands of people, and ordered residents downriver to evacuate.

Russian news agency Tass quoted an unspecified Russian government official as saying the dam had “collapsed” due to damage.

Ukrainian authorities have previously warned that the dam’s failure could unleash 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) of water and flood Kherson and dozens of other areas where hundreds of thousands of people live, as well as threatening a meltdown at a nearby Russian-occupied nuclear power plant. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting to deal with the crisis.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry wrote on Telegram that the Kakhovka dam, had been blown up, and called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson downriver to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances, and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.

Footage from what appeared to be a monitoring camera overlooking the dam that was circulating on social media purported to show a flash, explosion and breakage of the dam.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in a video posted to Telegram shortly before 7 a.m. that “the Russian army has committed yet another act of terror,” and warned that water will reach “critical levels” within five hours.

Zelenskyy moved to convene an emergency meeting of the country’s security and defense council following the dam explosion, the council’s secretary, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine and Russia have previously accused each other of targeting the dam with attacks, and last October Zelenskyy predicted that Russia would destroy the dam in order to cause a flood.

Authorities, experts and residents have for months expressed concerns about water flows through — and over — the Kakhovka dam.

In February, water levels were so low that many feared a meltdown at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, whose cooling systems are supplied with water from the Kakhovka reservoir held up by the dam.

Ukrainian soldiers fire at the Russian air target on the frontline near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, June 5, 2023

By mid-May, after heavy rains and snow melt, water levels rose beyond normal levels, flooding nearby villages. Satellite images showed water washing over damaged sluice gates.

Ukraine controls five of the six dams along the Dnipro River, which runs from its northern border with Belarus down to the Black Sea and is crucial for the entire country’s drinking water and power supply. The Kakhovka dam — the one furthest downstream in the Kherson region — is controlled by Russian forces.

Over 2 million people displaced by violence in Burkina Faso

DAKAR, Senegal

Violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has made Burkina Faso a country with one of the world’s fastest-growing populations of internally displaced people, with the number mushrooming by more than 2,000% since 2019, according to government data.

An aerial view shows a camp of internally displaced people in Djibo, Burkina Faso

Figures released last month showed more than 2 million people are internally displaced in the West African nation, the majority of them women and children, fueling a dire humanitarian crisis as the conflict pushed people from their homes, off their farms and into congested urban areas or makeshift camps.

Aid groups and the government are scrambling to respond amid a lack of funds and growing needs. One in four people requires aid, and tens of thousands are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Yet not even half of the $800 million humanitarian response budget requested last year by aid groups was funded, according to the United Nations.

“The spectrum of consequences (for people) is vast but grim at every point. A lot of people might die, and they’re dying because they weren’t able to access food and health services, because they weren’t properly protected, and the humanitarian assistance and the government response wasn’t sufficient,” Alexandra Lamarche, a senior fellow at advocacy group Refugees International, said.

The violence has divided a once-peaceful nation, leading to two coups last year. Military leaders vowed to to stem the insecurity, but jihadi attacks have continued and spread since Capt. Ibrahim Traore seized power in September.

The government retains control of less than 50% of the country, largely in rural areas, according to conflict analysts. Al-Qaida and Islamic State-affiliated groups control or threaten large areas, said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank.

“State security forces don’t have the resources (human and equipment) to fight both groups at all fronts,” he said.

The jihadis’ strategy of blocking towns, preventing people from moving freely and goods from flowing in, has compounded the displacement crisis. Some 800,000 people in more than 20 towns are under siege, say aid groups.

“The situation is very difficult. ... People don’t have food, children don’t have school,” Bibata Sangli, 53, who left the eastern town of Pama in January 2022 just before it came under siege. She still has family there who are unable to leave, Sangli said.

Internally displaced people wait for aid in Djibo, Burkina Faso

A community leader who last year met Jafar Dicko, the top jihadi in Burkina Faso, said Dicko’s group blockades towns that don’t accept its rules, such as banning alcohol and requiring women to be veiled their faces. The leader spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

In January, the United Nations began using Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to airlift food to areas inaccessible by road - an extremely costly approach. The three Chinooks were reduced to one in May, making it harder to reach many people as quickly.

While the humanitarian situation deteriorates, so has the ability of aid groups to operate.

Since the military takeovers of Burkina Faso’s government began in January 2022, incidents against aid organizations perpetrated by the security forces increased from one in 2021 to 11 last year, according to unpublished data for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The incidents included workers being arrested, detained and injured.

In November, security forces killed a humanitarian worker with a Burkina Faso aid organization in the Sahel region, the vast expanse below the Sahara Desert, according to a text message sent to an aid worker WhatsApp group seen by the AP.

Rights groups, analysts and civilians say Traore, the junta leader, is only focused on achieving military gains and cares little about human rights, freedom of speech or holding people accountable for indiscriminate killings of individuals suspected of supporting the militants.

Burkina Faso’s security forces killed at least 150 civilians in the north in April, according to local residents from the village of Karma, where most of the violence took place. Prosecutors said they opened an investigation into the killings.

Earlier this year, an AP investigation into a video circulating on social media determined that Burkina Faso’s security forces killed children at a military base in the country’s north.

While the government wages war, civilians bear the brunt and are running out of hope.

After jihadis attacked his village in eastern Burkina Faso in April, killing people and stealing cattle, a father of five, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, fled to the region’s main town of Fada N’Gourma.

But now his family doesn’t have food or access to health care, and the assistance supplied by humanitarian groups isn’t enough, he said.

“Since we’ve been displaced, our situation keeps getting worse,” the 46-year-old man said. “I miss my home.”

Kampala Police headquarters go without water for two weeks

KAMPALA, Uganda

The Uganda's Central Police Station which are the headquarters of police in Kampala have gone without water for two weeks.

Source privy to the matter have told the Nile Post that CPS which is home to over 200 police officers who work at the station now suffer after the station was cut off from water supply two weeks ago by National Water and Sewerage Corporation over accumulated bills.

"For two weeks, officers have to find ways of easing themselves. Many of them who can afford, go to nearby buildings and pay to be able to access toilets with water. The situation is terrible." a source at CPS told this website.

The toilets have since been locked.

It however remains unclear what happens to officers who sleep in the nearby barracks.

The situation is worse with suspects in cells at the Central Police Station.

The cells at CPS hold at least 80 suspects at a time.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango and his deputy, Luke Owoyesigyire were not readily available for a comment on the matter as their known phone numbers could not go through.

The development comes on the backdrop of a similar experience where the two largest police barracks at Nsambya and Naguru suffered a suffered without water for at least a month over accumulated bill.

NWSC recently threatened to cut off water supply to several government institutions around the country.

They said the arrears would help them in their operations including procuring chemicals used to treat water.

"Dear good people, a month back, we issued payment reminders to all entities with prepaid meters and  unpaid bills, requesting them to pay bills. As the meters disconnect, we humbly request that bills are paid to enable us pay for production inputs and keep the taps flowing,” NWSC said on Monday morning.

Russia says it thwarted major Ukrainian offensive

MOSCOW, Russia

Russia's defence ministry says it has thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive in Donetsk, claiming to have killed 250 troops and destroyed armoured vehicles.

Video of what Russia says is the battle appears to show military vehicles coming under heavy fire in fields.

But there has been no comment from Kyiv and Russia's claim has not been independently verified.

A Ukrainian counter-offensive has been long awaited but Kyiv says it will not give advance warning of its start.

And it is unclear whether the alleged attacks indicate that the fresh push to recapture Ukrainian land from Russian forces has begun in earnest.

The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine had launched the "large-scale offensive" in the Donetsk region on Sunday using six mechanised and two tank battalions.

It claimed the Ukrainians tried to break through Russian defences in what Kyiv saw as the most vulnerable part of the frontline but that it "did not achieve its tasks, it had no success".

Moscow claimed Ukraine had lost 250 troops as well as 16 tanks.

Ukraine has been planning a counter-offensive for months. But it has wanted as much time as possible to train troops and to receive military equipment from Western allies.

Officials in Kyiv have warned against public speculation over the offensive, saying it could help the enemy.

"Plans love silence. There will be no announcement of the start," the defence ministry said in a video posted to Telegram on Sunday.

The footage featured masked and well-armed troops holding their fingers against their lips.

Much is at stake because the government in Kyiv needs to show the people of Ukraine - and Western allies - that it can break through Russian lines, end the effective military deadlock and recapture some of its sovereign territory.

On Monday morning, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said troops were "moving forward" towards Bakhmut and had destroyed a Russian position near the city.

Elsewhere, fighters opposed to the government in Moscow say they have captured some Russian soldiers in Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine.

The claim was made by the Liberty of Russia Legion (FRL), which described the announcement as a joint statement with the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK).

Both groups want to topple President Vladimir Putin. They oppose the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that he launched in February last year.

Belgorod's top official, Vyacheslav Gladkov, replied to say he had agreed to meet the men's captors if the soldiers were still alive. But the fighters later said that the governor "had not found the courage" to meet them and they would hand over their captives to Ukraine.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for recent attacks in its border territories, but Kyiv denies being directly involved.

Authorities in Belgorod said an energy plant was ablaze following a drone attack on Monday morning.

And in Russia's Kaluga region - which borders the southern districts around Moscow - governor Vladislav Shapsha said two drones fell onto a main road. Mr Shapsha said there had not been an explosion and the area was now cordoned off.

There has been no independent confirmation of either attack, but Moscow says the Belgorod region has been the regular target of drone attacks from Ukraine. - BBC

Al-Shabaab killed 54 Uganda soldiers in Somalia - Museveni

KAMPALA, Uganda

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has said that al-Shabaab militants killed 54 Ugandan soldiers including the commander during a recent attack in Somalia.

The president disclosed this to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs retreat at the National Leadership Institute-Kyankwanzi. 

The president however did not give specific details regarding casualties, prisoners of war, or missing soldiers serving under the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

Museveni did mention that the high number of casualties could be attributed to the actions of Majors Oluka and Obbo, saying these commanders ordered the soldiers to retreat, resulting in their subsequent apprehension and impending court-martial charges. 

“They have been apprehended and will face charges in the court-martial,” the president posted on his Twitter handle.

The president commended the remaining soldiers for their confidence, demonstrating remarkable resilience as they swiftly reorganized themselves and successfully recaptured the base previously overrun by the militants. 

Furthermore, Museveni stated that the al-Shabaab militants, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, attempted another attack but were effectively repelled by the vigilant forces.

“These terrorists attempted another ill-fated attack on Baraawe town, but our forces dealt them a significant blow, forcing them to flee," he said. 

Museveni's statement comes one week after the attack in Bulamarer, located approximately 130 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab had previously claimed responsibility for the attack, asserting that they had caused the deaths of 137 soldiers and captured several others as prisoners of war. 

While promising to provide further information following a comprehensive investigation by the military board of inquiry, Museveni expressed his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers.

He also admonished the field commanders for their role in the humiliating attack, reminding them that their primary purpose in Somalia is to fight against the enemy rather than focusing on earning what he called fat UN allowances.

India ceases rescue as focus turns to cause of worst crash in decades

ODISHA, India

Indian authorities on Sunday completed rescue operations after the country's deadliest rail crash in more than two decades, with signal failure emerging as the likely cause of an accident that killed at least 275 people.

Railway workers and NDRF people are seen at the Coromandel express train accident site as they are busy in the derailed coaches removing work and rail track repairing works to resume the train service at Bahanaga station in Balasore district above 200 km away from the eastern Indian state Odisha's capital city Bhubaneswar, June 4, 2023

The death toll from Friday's crash was revised down from 288 after it was found that some bodies had been counted twice, said Pradeep Jena, chief secretary of the eastern state of Odisha.

The tally was unlikely to rise, he told reporters. "Now the rescue operation is complete."

Nearly 1,200 people were injured when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped the tracks and hit another passenger train passing in the opposite direction near the district of Balasore.

More than 900 people had been discharged from hospital while 260 were still being treated, with one patient in critical condition, the Odisha state government said in an update on Sunday evening.

State-run Indian Railways, which says it transports more than 13 million people every day, has been working to improve its patchy safety record, blamed on ageing infrastructure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces an election due next year, visited the scene on Saturday to talk to rescue workers, inspect the wreckage and meet some of the injured.

"Those found guilty will be punished stringently," Modi said.

A preliminary investigation indicated the Coromandel Express, heading to Chennai from Kolkata, moved out of the main track and entered a loop track – a side track used to park trains – at 128 kph (80 mph), crashing into the freight train parked on the loop track, said Railway Board member Jaya Varma Sinha.

That crash caused the engine and first four or five coaches of the Coromandel Express to jump the tracks, topple and hit the last two coaches of the Yeshwantpur-Howrah train heading in the opposite direction at 126 kph on the second main track, she told reporters.

This caused those two coaches to jump the tracks and result in the massive pileup, Sinha said.

The drivers of both passenger trains were injured but survived, she said.

The probe is now focused on the computer-controlled track management system, called the "interlocking system," which directs a train to an empty track at the point where two tracks meet.

The system is suspected to have malfunctioned and should not have allowed the Coromandel Express to take the loop track, Sinha said.

"Stop military deployments near China" - US warned

SINGAPORE CITY, Singapore

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting on security, former ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai said that although the two militaries still had channels of communication, he questioned whether there was enough political will to prevent conflicts.

"Some people are talking about our ships, our planes getting too close to their ships and their planes. But the real question is, why are they coming all the way across the ocean to our doorsteps?" Cui said of U.S. naval and air force deployments close to China. "They are getting too close to our territories, to our territorial waters before anything else. This is not a good way of showing respect to others. It is certainly a disrespect of other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity."

He added: "If people have such goodwill and if people act in good faith, they could always find effective ways of communication."

U.S. deployments near China, Cui said, were "certainly disrespect of other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity and to be more specific, they always prefer unilateral sanctions."

"We have a very small number of nuclear weapons, warheads, whatsoever. So the capabilities of the two countries are very different. There's a huge gap. So how can they (the U.S.) expect us to engage in negotiation with them, when they have so many, we have so few. Are they ready to cut down their level to our level, then we can start negotiation on equal footing? Or are they asking us to raise our level to their level so that we can negotiate on equal footing?" Cui said. "So I think we have to answer these two questions first."

He said that he nonetheless remained optimistic about relations between the two countries.

"I hope things will improve in the coming months and years," he said. "As a matter of principle, we are always ready for more dialogue with others, including with the United States."

Egypt tows away stranded oil tanker in Suez Canal

CAIRO, Egypt

An oil tanker that suffered engine failure in Egypt's Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the vital waterway, has been towed away, the canal's authority said on Sunday.

The canal authority's head, Osama Rabie, said in a statement that traffic in both directions had resumed as normal after tugboats managed to move the stranded tanker.

The SCA team reacted effectively to the technical failure in SEAVIGOUR, a 274-meter oil tanker that carried the flag of Malta crossing the artificial waterway from north to south, Rabie said, adding that the tanker would resume passage immediately after fixation.

It was heading from Russia to China, the canal authority added.

Frequent traffic disruptions occur in the Suez Canal due to technical malfunctions, but stoppages are usually brief.

Less than two weeks ago tugboats had to move a bulk carrier that had been stranded for several hours in the canal.

The Suez Canal is a major lifeline for global seaborne trade. Some 12 percent of the world trade volume passes through the artificial canal, a major source of hard currency for Egypt. - Africa