UK, US issue fresh security alert in Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda

The United States and United Kingdom’s diplomatic missions on Tuesday issued a warning to their respective nationals about going to big events, especially religious services.

Ahead of Thursday’s widely attended Nyege Nyege festival, they also advised against attending music and cultural events.

Additionally, the UK government has advised its citizens not to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park or Semuliki National Park, where last month a British and South African couple, along with their Ugandan guide, were killed by a militant group known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Then, the UK issued a warning to its people not to visit the well-known park. Recently, there has been an increase in insecurity in Uganda. 

Officials reported that they had stopped the ADF from attacking churches twice in September and October.

One of the deadliest ADF attacks in the nation occurred in June when militants from the ADF massacred 42 people at a school in western Uganda.

‘Israel did not ask for this war,’ IDF spokesperson says

TEL AVIV, Israel

One month after Hamas’ attacks on Israeli soil that resulted in the deaths of about 1,400 people, and the abduction of more than 240 civilians, Israel says it will continue its military efforts to banish Hamas “from the realm of existence.”

In an interview with VOA conducted via Skype on Sunday, the spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, said securing the release of all the hostages — who he said range in age from ten months to 88 years — is the country's top priority.

"The hostage issue is at the top of our priority," said Lerner, who said the number of Israeli and foreign nationals being held as hostages is now 241. "It is one of the missions of the war, of our efforts and we are operating on the ground, air, and at sea and utilizing all of the tools that we have."

To date, Hamas has released five hostages but has not offered an explanation about the wellbeing or whereabouts of the other hostages.

Israel's aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has drawn outrage from Arab nations and human rights activists with some saying the deaths of civilians and cutting off water and electricity to Gazan citizens violates the laws of war. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. Lerner insists Israel is following proper guidelines.

Israel Defense Forces,
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner

"The IDF is operating based on principles of distinction, military necessity, proportionality, and weighing up the three of those components together in order to achieve our military goal," Lerner said.

"On of our main efforts in the last three weeks has been to evacuate people from harm’s way,” Lerner said, adding that they have “been encouraging people through text messages, through phone calls, through voice messages, through leaflets we’ve dropped from the sky, phoning people and encouraging them to leave the combat zone."

However, some Palestinians attempting to leave Gaza and Hamas officials have refuted this claim. They, instead, accused Israel of blocking exit routes and leaving them stranded in a war zone.

Israel has justified its bombing by saying that Hamas fighters have embedded themselves among civilians in places like hospitals and refugee shelters, making civilians casualties of war. Lerner said, while they don't intentionally target civilians, it is hard to avoid them and blamed Hamas for creating the situation.

"Our goal is to try and limit the civilian casualties as the operation proceeds. It is an unfortunate reality of warfare," he said. However, he emphasized that Israel was forced to take action following the surprise attack by Hamas. "But we need to remember we did not ask for this war. We did not plan on going to war so much so that the idea actually failed the people of Israel because we were working under the assumption that Hamas doesn’t want to have a war with us."

Asked whether there were Israeli intelligence failures leading up to the October 7 attacks, Lerner said that was partly correct.

"Indeed, the intelligence failure was on a strategic level, to begin with. And that influenced all of the processes beneath that strategic level. If we have the working assumption that Hamas isn’t going to or isn’t attempting to go to war with Israel, that determines all of the, I would say, assets, efforts, components, the gathering that in the end influenced the amount of forces that you have on the ground on that Saturday, that terrible Saturday, 4 weeks ago."

Lerner pledged the surprise attacks of that day would not be repeated. He pointed to a destruction of Hamas infrastructure including command-and-control positions, the rocket launchers, and explosive drone capabilities.

"It's a process that will end in the defeat of Hamas as a governing authority. We’re determined to do it. And as I said, we really don’t have any other choice. There is no way that Israel can go back to the situation of October 6th, the day the day before," Lerner said.

As for fear of igniting a fight with Lebanon and Hezbollah, Lerner said Israel is not planning to expand its fight to Lebanon. "We are very focused on what's happening on the border with Gaza. We want to remain and achieve our mission there. That is why we’re not looking to expand the confrontation with Hezbollah in the North."

But during a speech on November 3, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah said they have been involved since Hamas attacked Israel. "I am telling you; we have been engaged in this battle since October 8," Nasrallah said. "The Islamic resistance in Lebanon started operation the very next day."

Lerner said Israel's response should serve as a warning to militants attempting to enter the conflict on Hamas’ behalf.

"I would say Hezbollah needs to decide, are they working for Iran or the people of Lebanon? I would say to the government of Lebanon, you need to take charge of what’s happening in the South and prevent Hezbollah from escalating the situation because Lebanon has a lot to lose if this deteriorates, and to Hezbollah, I say look very carefully how we are dismantling and destroying Hamas in Gaza and think very carefully if you want to cross that threshold."

Blinken asks Rwanda and Congo to reduce border tensions

NAIROBI, Kenya

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Rwanda and Congo to de-escalate tensions and withdraw troops from their border following increased fighting that has displaced nearly seven million people.

Blinken spoke separately by phone with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame about the "volatile situation and worsening humanitarian crisis along the border,” the State Department said.

Its statement said Blinken advocated for a diplomatic solution to the tensions.

Fighting between M23 rebels and militias loyal to the Congolese army has intensified in the eastern Congo provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu and Tanganyika.

The Congolese government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels who have taken control over swathes of territory in eastern Congo. U.N. experts have said they had strong evidence that Rwanda’s army was fighting alongside the rebel group. Rwanda has rejected the accusations and instead accused Congo’s army of shelling villages in Rwandan territory along the border.

The International Organization for Migration has described the situation as the largest internal displacement and humanitarian crisis in the world.

Thousands of civilians have been killed. Millions have been displaced internally. Hundreds of thousands have fled into neighboring Uganda.

“For decades, the Congolese people have been living through a storm of crises,” Fabien Sambussy, IOM’s chief of mission in Congo, said earlier. “The most recent escalation of the conflict has uprooted more people in less time like rarely seen before."

Congo is expected to hold presidential elections next month, but there are concerns that the escalation of violence in the east will affect the polls in which Tshisekedi seeks another term.

900,000 Palestinians face Israeli onslaught, those fleeing recount terrifying journey

JEDDAH/GAZA

Up to 900,000 Palestinian civilians remained in northern Gaza and Gaza City on Tuesday surrounded by Israeli tanks and troops preparing for a military onslaught.

Israel urged civilians to flee south and offered a four-hour window to travel, but southern Gaza also came under attack. At least 23 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

“We are civilians,” said Ahmed Ayesh, who was rescued from the rubble of a house in Khan Younis where 11 people were killed. “This is the bravery of the so-called Israel — they show their might and power against civilians, babies inside, kids inside, and elderly.”

As he spoke, rescuers at the house used their hands to try to free a girl buried up to her waist in debris.

Adam Fayez Zeyara, a Gaza City resident who headed south, said: “The most dangerous trip of my life. We saw the tanks from point blank. We saw decomposed body parts. We saw death.”

Israel said its forces were pushing deep into Gaza City, where tanks were positioned on the outskirts for a storming of Gaza’s urban heartland.

From early on in the war, now in its second month, the army has urged civilians to move south, including by announcing brief windows for what it said would be safe passage through Salah Al-Din, which runs through the center of the besieged enclave.

But tens of thousands of civilians have remained in the north, many sheltering in hospitals or UN facilities.

Those who have stayed say they are deterred by overcrowding in the south, along with dwindling water and food supplies, and continued Israeli airstrikes in what are supposed to be safe areas.

On Monday, Health Ministry in Gaza spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra dismissed the Israeli offers of safe passage as “nothing but death corridors.”

He said bodies have lined the road for days, and called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to accompany local ambulances to retrieve the dead.

Israel’s military said that, at one point, troops came under Hamas fire when trying to open the road temporarily for civilians.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the army’s claims in an interview with ABC News broadcast late Monday.

“We are fighting an enemy that is particularly brutal. They are using their civilians as human shields, and while we are asking the Palestinian civilian population to leave the war zone, they are preventing them at gunpoint,” Netanyahu said.

The claims could not be verified independently.

“For the first time in decades, IDF is fighting in the heart of Gaza City. At the heart of terrorism,” said Maj.Gen. Yaron Finkelman, head of the military’s southern command. “Every day and every hour the forces are killing militants, exposing tunnels and destroying weapons and continuing onward to enemy centers.”

The military wing of Hamas said its fighters were inflicting heavy losses and damage on advancing Israeli forces.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters burst across the fence enclosing Gaza and killed 1,400 Israelis and abducted more than 200. Since then, Israel has unrelentingly bombarded Gaza, killing more than 10,000 people, around 40 percent of them children. “It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair” UN human rights chief Volcker Turk said.

Discussing longer term plans for the first time, Netanyahu said Israel would take security responsibility for Gaza “for an indefinite period.”

Simcha Rothman, a member of Netanyahu’s far-right extremist coalition, said: “Our forces must not shed blood to give the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority wrapped in a bow. Only full Israeli control and a complete demilitarisation of the strip will restore security.”

But White House spokesman John Kirby said US President Joe Biden opposed Israeli reoccupation. “It’s not good for Israel, it’s not good for the Israeli people,” he said. 

Sudan’s military conflict is getting closer to South Sudan and Abyei - UN envoy warns

By Edith Lederer, UNITED NATIONS New York

The “unprecedented” conflict between Sudan’s army and rival paramilitary force now in its seventh month is getting closer to South Sudan and the disputed Abyei region, the U.N. special envoy for the Horn of Africa warned Monday.

Hanna Serwaa Tetteh pointed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Force’s recent seizures of the airport and oil field in Belila, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of the capital of Sudan’s West Kordofan State.

She told the U.N. Security Council that the conflict “is profoundly affecting bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan, with significant humanitarian, security, economic and political consequences that are a matter of deep concern among the South Sudanese political leadership.”

Sudan was plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in the capital, Khartoum, and other areas across the East African nation.

More than 9,000 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, which tracks Sudan’s war. And the fighting has driven over 4.5 million people to flee their homes to other places inside Sudan and more than 1.2 million to seek refuge in neighboring countries, the U.N. says.

Sudan plunged into turmoil after its leading military figure, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that upended a short-run democratic transition following three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. Since mid-April, his troops have been fighting the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Both sides have been taking part in talks aimed at ending the conflict in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, since late October. But fighting has continued.

The Security Council meeting focused on the U.N. peacekeeping force in the oil-rich Abyei region, whose status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011. The region’s majority Ngok Dinka people favor South Sudan, while the Misseriya nomads who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle favor Sudan.

With the RSF’s seizures in Belila, Tetteh said, the military confrontation between Sudan’s two sides “is getting closer to the border with Abyei and South Sudan.”

“These military developments are likely to have adverse consequences on Abyei’s social fabric and the already fragile coexistence between the Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka,” she said.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the council that the outbreak of the Sudan conflict “interrupted the encouraging signs of dialogue between the Sudan and South Sudan witnessed earlier in 2023.” He said it had put on hold “the political process with regard to the final status of Abyei and border issues.”

Tetteh echoed Lacroix, saying that “there is no appetite from key Sudanese and South Sudanese leaders to raise the status of Abyei.”

She said representatives of the communities in Abyei are very aware of the conflict’s “adverse consequences” on the resumption of talks on the region and expressed the need to keep the Abyei dispute on the U.N. and African Union agendas.

South African Minister robbed at gunpoint on a highway

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

South African police are on a manhunt for suspects who robbed a government minister at gunpoint and disarmed her two bodyguards of their pistols on a busy Johannesburg highway, police said Tuesday.

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga

The robbery took place while Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga’s bodyguards were changing a punctured tire in the early hours of Monday morning.

Three gunmen allegedly appeared from bushes, ordered the bodyguards to lie on the ground before taking their firearms, and then pointed a gun at Chikunga and robbed her of some personal items.

“A manhunt has since been launched following this unprecedented incident,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said.

The minister told lawmakers during a parliamentary briefing Tuesday that the ordeal had traumatized her.

“The whole experience was very traumatizing, devastating, it was bad,” Chikunga said, adding that she tried to make a call when she realized something was amiss. “But just before I could do anything they opened the door and pointed the gun at my head, and ordered me to come out.”

Chikunga and her bodyguards appear to have fallen victim to a known criminal strategy on some of the country’s major roads: Robbers place spikes on the road to puncture a car tire, and then ambush occupants of the vehicle when they emerge to fix the tire.

Police said the bodyguards were receiving the necessary support and counselling.

DRC army and Blue Helmets launch Operation Springbok as M23 threatens key towns

GOMA, DR Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo government troops and United Nations peacekeepers launched a joint operation aimed at reinforcing security around the capital of the North Kivu province, Goma.

Lieutenant General Otávio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho, Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo November 06, 2023

The city as well as Sake face threats from several armed groups, including from the M23 rebels. Group which Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting.

United Nations experts concluded in a rteport that Rwanda backs the M23, although Kigali denies the claim. 

The UN's Force commander, Lt. Gen. Otávio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho from Brazil was present Monday (Nov. 06) at the launch of one joint patrol and emphasised his forces commitment to helping the Congolese troops.

“We have a full commitment with the protection of the citizens of the DRC and all soldiers that are deployed here. They are here outside our bases because they are ready to die, if necessary, to protect the population of this country,” Lt. Gen. the MONUSCO Force Commander said.  

Fighting in the region has forced residents to flee their villages.

The new joint operation, named Springbok, has established several fresh defensive positions, with UN armoured vehicles and heavily armed troops seen deployed in the hilly terrain near Sake.

Local militia, known as "Wazalendo", and the M23 rebels from the Kibumba and Buhumba region have been clashing in the Nyiragongo territory, some twenty kilometers from Goma.

Securing the Goma region is one of MONUSCO's key tasks. 

Locals criticise the UN for failing to bring peace to the country, and mobs have rioted outside its bases. Congo's government has called for MONUSCO to leave the country. 

Peacekeepers have been present in DRC since 1999 but militia violence has nonetheless continued to plague the east.

The Congolese government has requested MONUSCO's "accelerated" departure, from December. 

Tshisekedi said that the mission of some 14,000 peacekeepers "has not succeeded in confronting the rebellions and armed conflicts... nor in protecting the civilian populations."

President’s pronouncement, came just weeks after the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) extended the mandate of a regional military force deployed to quell violence in eastern DRC.

Nigerian Nollywood actor's leg amputated, family says

ABUJA, Nigeria 

Family members of popular Nigerian comic actor John Okafor, better known as Mr Ibu, say his leg has been amputated for medical reasons.

Doctors had no choice but to sever the limb "to keep him alive", relatives say in a statement on his Instagram page.

"This development has been hard on us all but we've had to accept it as Daddy's new reality," it reads.

Okafor, 62, has starred in dozens of Nollywood films including Keziah, 9 Wives and Mr Ibu in London.

His family have not disclosed the cause of the illness that led to his leg being amputated.

The statement adds that the actor has undergone seven rounds of surgery, and needs one more.

Nigerian media report that some of Okafor's medical expenses have been paid by former Senate President Bukola Saraki.

His family is appealing for fans and well-wishers to pay the remainder, without specifying the amount.

Such appeals from Nollywood actors are not uncommon, says the BBC's Annette Arotiba in Nigeria.

This has raised questions from many, asking why actors who appear to be well-off cannot afford to pay for their own medical bills.

Most Nigerians rely on private medical care which can be costly.

Industry insiders say pay rates in Nollywood vary, with top actors receiving up to 3m naira ($3,700; £3,000) and the smallest parts being unpaid.

Mali: airstrikes kill several civilians

BAMAKO, Mali

Several civilians, including children, were killed Tuesday in strikes attributed to the Malian army in Kidal, a possible foreshadowing of the battle to come for this bastion of the Tuareg rebellion and a major sovereignty issue for the central state.

The Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed groups, reported in a press release 14 deaths, including eight children gathered in front of a school and six notables, killed according to the CSP by Turkish-made drones from the Malian army.

Residents and witnesses, speaking mostly on condition of anonymity for their safety, spoke of six, seven or nine deaths, without having an overview of each of them.

“Six people including children were killed by airstrikes by the Malian army. In the hospital, we have wounded,” said a health worker. A video consulted by AFP shows six remains lying next to each other.

No reaction was initially obtained from the Malian authorities. The army indicated on social networks on Saturday that it had "neutralized" the day before with its air assets a certain number of targets which were preparing operations inside the camp recently evacuated by the UN mission (Minusma).

Tuesday's acts of war, the first murderers in Kidal itself since the Tuareg rebellion resumed hostilities with the State in August, confirm fears of a confrontation in which the several tens of thousands of inhabitants of the city, historic center of independence insurgencies and a crossroads on the road to Algeria, has been brewing for some time.

The insubordination of Kidal and its region, where the army suffered humiliating defeats between 2012 and 2014, is an old source of irritation in Bamako.

The colonels who took charge of the country by force in 2020 have made the restoration of territorial sovereignty their mantra.

However, Kidal is controlled by rebels who, after rising in 2012, agreed to cease fire in 2014, but have just taken up arms again.

The independence uprising of 2012 coincided with the entry into action of radical Islamist groups. The jihadists have never stopped fighting the central state and any foreign presence, plunging Mali into a security, political and human crisis which has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Since August, the north has once again been the scene of an escalation between the actors present (regular army, rebels, jihadists). The withdrawal of the UN Mission, pushed out by the junta, triggered a race for control of the territory, with the central authorities demanding the restitution of the camps, the rebels opposing it and the jihadists trying to do so. take advantage of this to strengthen their hold.

The evacuation by Minusma of its Kidal camp promised to be the most flammable.

Anticipating the departure of Minusma, a large army convoy left on October 2 towards Kidal.

But the UN mission, constrained by the deterioration in security, accelerated its withdrawal and left its Kidal camp last week. The separatist rebellion immediately took control, ahead of the army.

The haste in the disengagement of Minusma irritated the junta, which wanted to make this departure coincide with the arrival of the army. The obstacles put by the junta on the evacuation forced Minusma to destroy part of its equipment because it was unable to remove it, the mission said. But she also left some behind.

A resident who worked for Minusma indicated that Tuesday's victims included residents who had gathered in front of the camp to collect equipment.

The CSP assured for its part that one of the drone strikes had hit a group of children in front of a school near the camp.

The CSP said it was asking the Turkish authorities “to review their policy of selling drones to the junta” and to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner with which it cooperates according to the CSP.

Minusma, whose numbers numbered around 15,000 soldiers and police and more than 180 members of whom were killed in hostile acts, is supposed to have left by December 31. Since July, it has withdrawn nearly 6,000 civilian and uniformed personnel from Mali.

Portuguese PM António Costa resigns amid corruption probe

By Attorney Hernàndez-Morales, LISBON Portugal 

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa submitted his resignation Tuesday after police raided his official residence and the country’s attorney general confirmed he was being investigated under a corruption probe. 

During a televised news conference, Costa said he was “surprised” to learn that “a criminal case has already been or will be initiated against me,” and insisted he’d had nothing to do with any “illicit or reprehensible act.”

Costa said the gravity of the charges driving his investigation are “incompatible with the dignity of the office of prime minister,” making it impossible for him to continue in the post.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will now have to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call new elections, or choose a new prime minister from Costa’s Socialist Party.

The office of the presidency confirmed that party leaders will be summoned to meet Wednesday, with the Council of State, an advisory body to the president, expected to meet Thursday.

Costa said he was willing to remain in office until a successor was named, but clarified he would not put his name forward as a candidate for higher office. His resignation marked “the end of a chapter” in his life, he said.

The prime minister’s resignation came hours after Portugal’s national police carried out searches of Costa’s residence and several government ministry buildings. 

The sweeps are part of a corruption probe linked to lithium exploration schemes in the north of the country as well as a green hydrogen mega-project in Sines. 

Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, was also detained, the attorney general said earlier on Tuesday.

Authorities also confirmed that Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba and Portuguese Environment Agency head Nuno Lacasta had been indicted. 

Costa’s socialist government has enthusiastically backed schemes to extract lithium in different areas of Portugal as part of the EU’s wider drive to secure critical raw materials, but those projects have been mired in controversy due to the low quality of the material to be extracted and the disproportionate environmental damage expected.

A 2021 POLITICO investigation into one mining scheme in the northern Montealegre region highlighted these controversies and ultimately led the Portuguese government to cancel a major project in the area.

The prime minister’s executive had also bet big on a green hydrogen production hub in the Port of Sines, a project that is being funded with millions of euros in EU innovation cash.

Socialist Party leader Costa became prime minister of Portugal in 2015, forming a minority government backed by an unlikely coalition of far-left parties.

His government oversaw a tourism boom that turned the country into an international hotspot and led observers to salute a “Portuguese economic miracle” that had transformed the country after years of austerity imposed following the European debt crisis.

The impact of COVID on tourism, however, dampened enthusiasm for Costa and invited censure of his government’s promotion of cheap service-sector jobs and tax breaks for digital nomads. 

Left-wing parties also broke with the PM due to meager public investment in education and health care, as well as for his government’s inaction during a nationwide housing crisis worsened by an influx of expat residents.

However, despite widespread discontent among public sector workers, Costa’s Socialist Party managed to gain an absolute majority of seats in the country’s parliament in 2022 legislative elections thanks to a campaign in which Costa cast himself as the only viable alternative to a center-right government supported by the far-right Chega party.

UAE to set up 150-bed field hospital in Gaza

GAZA STRIP, Palestine 

The United Arab Emirates is setting up a field hospital in the Gaza Strip with some 150 beds, a surgery department and intensive care units for adults and children.

Five aircraft flew out of Abu Dhabi for Arish in northern Egypt carrying equipment and supplies for the facility, WAM news agency says.

It says the hospital will be set up in multiple stages, without providing an exact timetable.

An official contacted by AFP said there was no immediate information on how the equipment will be transferred to Gaza, where there is only one operational border point, the Rafah crossing near Arish.

The hospital’s facilities will include anesthetics and surgery, gynecology and intensive care units “catering to both children and adults,” WAM says.

The wealthy Persian Gulf country has previously said it would provide $20 million in aid to the Palestinian people and bring about 1,000 Palestinian children, along with their families, to the UAE for medical treatment.

Presidents of Egypt and South Sudan agree to work together for peaceful solution in Sudan

CAIRO, Egypt

Egypt’s President Abdel Al-Sisi and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir have agreed to intensify their efforts and contacts with the relevant parties in Sudan to find urgent solutions to the crisis and spare the Sudanese people further violence and displacement.

At a joint press conference with President Kiir, Al-Sisi urged the various Sudanese parties to prioritize the national interests of Sudan over any personal interests or external interventions that would worsen the situation or prolong the suffering of the Sudanese people.

He emphasized the vital role of Egypt and South Sudan in the Sudanese crisis, and the need to respect their views in any initiatives or efforts to resolve the crisis, especially since the two countries have a better understanding of the nature of the crisis and its tribal complexities. He also stressed the importance of the neighboring countries’ meetings in resolving the crisis.

The President also called on the international community to fulfill its commitments and obligations towards South Sudan in its journey towards building a better future.

He said that he discussed with President Kiir the existing cooperation between the two countries in the field of water resources and irrigation, and the joint efforts to optimize the use of the Nile River resources.

“Egypt’s vision is based on the fact that the Nile River should be a source of cooperation and development as a lifeline for all the peoples of the Nile Basin countries,” Al-Sisi said.

He also said that they reviewed the developments related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue and the ongoing negotiations to reach a binding legal agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

“Despite the international economic challenges, Egypt will spare no effort to stand by South Sudan and its brotherly people, especially in the field of capacity-building and providing technical expertise in various fields,” Al-Sisi added.

He reiterated Egypt’s full support for President Kiir’s efforts and all South Sudanese parties to achieve peace in the country. He praised the efforts made by the political parties in South Sudan to move forward with the implementation of the electoral process, and Egypt’s full support for the government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the South Sudanese people for peace, stability, and development.

He also said that they discussed ways to strengthen and develop joint political, military, and security coordination during this critical stage that the region is going through, and agreed to coordinate their efforts to achieve security and stability in the region and protect the interests of their peoples.

President Kiir said on Monday that Egypt and South Sudan are confident that dialogue is the only way to end the escalating conflict in Sudan.

He said that he exchanged views with President Al-Sisi regarding the ongoing conflict in Sudan, especially the deteriorating humanitarian situation. He said that they agreed on the need to work together to find solutions to end the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Kiir also said that he discussed with President Al-Sisi the need to use the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries to benefit from Egyptian expertise to achieve development in South Sudan, especially in the field of education.

Minawi’s field commander slain in suspected RSF ambush in North Darfur

EL-FASHER, Sudan

A field commander from the Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) was killed, and two other group members sustained injuries in an apparent ambush west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

Babikir Musa

The attack is believed to have been executed by a faction associated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Minni Arko Minawi, the Darfur region’s governor and the leader of the SLM-MM, directly accused RSF militants of orchestrating the assassination.

“In deep sorrow, today, I bid farewell to the brave Comrade Babikir Musa, who sacrificed his life while defending the residents of Shaqra village, west of El Fasher, against threats from RSF members. The comrade made every effort to repel the assailants and protect civilians but paid the ultimate price. May the hero rest in peace,” Minawi expressed in a message on the X platform.

Following Al-Burhan’s arrival at the end of last August, Minawi relocated to Port Sudan in eastern Sudan.

Tensions have been rising in El Fasher and its neighbouring villages due to the presence of RSF and allied militias, who are reportedly preparing to target the 6th Infantry Division of the Sudanese army in North Darfur State’s capital.

Many civilians have fled El Fasher, which had already been home to thousands of displaced people who sought refuge after the conflict between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces erupted nearly seven months ago.

The town also harbours internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled the fighting that erupted between the army and former rebel groups in 2003.

According to a source within the SLM/MM, “An armed group wearing RSF uniforms ambushed an SLM-MM patrol in Shaqra, located 10 kilometres west of El Fasher. The attackers killed Major Babakir Musa, and two of his comrades were injured.”

The source added that the attackers fled to an unknown location, while a substantial SLM-MM force stationed in the Zamzam displacement camp was in pursuit of the assailants.

Concerns are mounting that this incident may trigger violent clashes between Darfur’s armed groups and RSF elements.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, the armed groups who signed the Juba Peace Agreement have declared their neutrality and refrained from taking sides.

The SLM-MM, the Justice and Equality Movement led by Gibril Ibrahim, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces headed by Al-Tahir Hajer, and the SLM-Transitional Council under Al-Hadi Idris have established a joint force to protect civilians. This force also provides security for commercial and relief convoys heading to Darfur cities.

Recently, the joint force vehemently rejected the military escalation in El Fasher and issued a warning to confront any armed group that targets civilians and loots markets.

Niger Junta asks Togo to facilitate talks

NIAMEY, Niger

Niger’s military junta called Monday on Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe to act as a facilitator with the international community, including the West African bloc ECOWAS which has imposed sanctions since a coup.

Niger’s Defence Minister General Salifou Mody met Gnassingbe in Togo’s capital Lome where he said the junta also wanted Togo to be a guarantor of a deal for French troops to withdraw from the Sahel country.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has imposed tight financial sanctions and closed border trade with Niger in a bid to restore constitutional order.

Mody, who called the sanctions “cynical”, said Togo had allowed space for the Niger junta to communicate when other avenues were shut.

Though an ECOWAS member, Togo has taken some bilateral initiatives to engage with Niger’s military leadership.

“We have never closed our country to friends. It is always important to remind our partners that Niger is open, even if arrangements have been made so that we cannot address our partners,” Mody told reporters after the meeting.

“We also asked the President of the Republic of Togo to be a facilitator, to be able to facilitate this dialogue with our various partners.”

France has already started pulling out its 1,500 troops from Niger after the junta demanded they leave following the July 28 ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.

Mody said the withdrawal was going ahead with some French “air assets” being prepared for departure.

“We demanded that Togo, our brother country, for all the contribution that this country continues to give us, be our guarantor in this agreement. The withdrawal is progressing and everything is going normally,” he said.

Togo’s foreign minister Robert Dussey said the country was ready to assist in dialogue.

“Togo always opposes any takeover by force, Togo opposes any coup d’etat,” he said. “But in the particular situation of your country, Togo understands and Togo wants to help you.”

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, current chair of ECOWAS, said he was proceeding cautiously on Niger because of concerns over the safety of ousted president Bazoum.

For now, the junta has demanded up to a three-year transition back to civilian rule, while ECOWAS has called for the immediate restoration of constitutional order. But Tinubu said back channels were still open.

Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spillover in its southeast from a long conflict in neighbouring Nigeria, and an offensive in the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

At least 11 farmers killed by Jihadists in Northeast Nigeria

ZABARMARI, Nigeria

Jihadists have killed at least 11 farmers and several others are missing after an attack on rice fields in Nigeria's northeast Borno State, anti-jihadist militia and residents said Monday.

Farmers are often targeted by Islamist militants waging a 14-year conflict in Nigeria's northeast, where 40,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since 2009.

Suspected Boko Haram jihadists stormed rice fields in Zabarmari district outside the regional capital Maiduguri late on Sunday, seizing farmers and slitting their throats while abducting others, the sources told AFP.

The farmers were staying in their fields overnight in Karkut village to guard their harvested paddy against theft before transporting it home the following morning.

"We have so far recovered 11 bodies... all of them slaughtered by the Boko Haram attackers," anti-jihadist militia leader Babakura Kolo said.

"The insurgents threw the bodies into a ditch and took away an undetermined number of people," said Kolo.

Four more farmers survived the attack with slashes on their throats and were taken to hospital in Maiduguri, said Umar Ari, a second militia leader.

"We are still searching other rice fields in neighbouring communities for more bodies because many people are still missing," said Ari, who gave the same toll.

"The terrorists abducted several farmers and there is apprehension as to their fate," Ari said.

The bodies of the 11 farmers were taken to the central mosque in Zabarmari for a funeral, resident Bello Muhammad said.

Boko Haram and rival IS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have increasingly targeted farmers, loggers, herders and fishermen, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and militia fighting them.

In 2020, Boko Haram killed 76 farmers from Zabarmari in nearby Koshobe village -- a massacre that set a new standard of brutality.

Attacks from militants in Nigeria's northeast have eased since the height of the conflict when fighters held towns and large swathes of territory, but they still raid rural areas, hit military bases and ambush convoys.

"We just need peace and security," said the brother of a farmer killed in the Karkut attack. "We are still calling on the government to come to our aid -- we farmers are still not secure."