At least 183 people have been killed since July in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, the United Nations said Tuesday as it appealed for the killings, violence and rights abuses to end.

Tension in the northern region ratcheted up this year after the end of a devastating war in the neighbouring region of Tigray that also drew in fighters from Amhara.

“We are very concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in some regions of Ethiopia,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva.

“In Amhara region, following a flare-up in clashes between the Ethiopian military and the regional Fano militia, and the declaration of a state of emergency on August 4, the situation worsened considerably.

“At least 183 people have been killed in clashes since July, according to information gathered by the UN Human Rights Office.”

Tension in the northern region ratcheted up this year after the end of a devastating war in neighbouring Tigray that also drew in fighters from Amhara.

In April the federal government announced it was dismantling regional forces across the country.

The move triggered protests by Amhara nationalists who said it would weaken their region.

Clashes erupted in early July between the national army and local fighters known as Fano, prompting the authorities in Addis Ababa on August 4 to declare a six-month state of emergency.

The status gives the authorities broad powers to arrest suspects without a court order, impose curfews and ban public gatherings, Hurtado said.

“We have received reports that more than 1,000 people have been arrested across Ethiopia under this law. Many of those detained were reported to be young people of Amhara ethnic origin suspected of being Fano supporters,” she said.

“Since early August, mass house-to-house searches have reportedly been taking place.

“We call on the authorities to stop mass arrests, ensure that any deprivation of liberty is judicially reviewed, and release those arbitrarily detained.”

She added: “We call on all actors to stop killings, other violations and abuses.”

Source: AFP

Pope Francis on Sunday urged a diplomatic solution to a political crisis in Niger, sparked by a coup that threatens stability in the region. 

“I am following with concern what is happening in Niger, and join the bishops’ call in favour of peace in the country and stability in the Sahel,” said Pope Francis, addressing the faithful in St Peter’s Square after his Angelus prayer.

“I join with prayer the efforts of the international community to find a peaceful solution as soon as possible for the good of everyone,” said the 86-year-old.

Source: France 24

The United Nations warned Wednesday that the ongoing crisis in Niger could significantly worsen food insecurity in the impoverished country, urging humanitarian exemptions to sanctions and border closures to avert catastrophe.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA highlighted that even before Niger’s democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was toppled in a coup late last month, the country counted more than three million acutely food-insecure people.

More than seven million others, who are currently considered to be moderately food-insecure, “could see their situation worsen due to the unfolding crisis”, it warned, citing a preliminary analysis from the World Food Programme.

“We urge all parties to facilitate humanitarian exemptions, enabling immediate access to people in need of critical food and basic necessities,” Margot van der Velden, WFP’s acting regional director for Western Africa, said in a statement.

She also called for more financial support, warning the worsening humanitarian situation in Niger is coming at a time when WFP is being forced to cut rations globally due to lacking funds.

Source: France 24

Military chiefs from the West African bloc ECOWAS will meet in Ghana this week to discuss a possible intervention in Niger, a spokesperson for the regional group has confirmed.

The meeting on Thursday and Friday – originally scheduled for last weekend but then postponed – comes after ECOWAS leaders last week approved deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order” in Niger, whose president was toppled on July 26.

Their summit, held in the Nigerian capital Abuja last Thursday, also reaffirmed the bloc’s preference for a diplomatic outcome.

Source: France 24

Rescue ship Ocean Viking has saved more than 600 migrants adrift in the Mediterranean over the last two days, the organisation that runs it, SOS Mediterranee, said on Friday.

The rescues took place southwest of Lampedusa, in the waters between the Italian island and Tunisia, the organisation said.

An earlier statement referred to more than 500 people rescued in 11 separate rescue operations.

But a spokeswoman for SOS Mediterranee told AFP Friday evening: “So far, we have rescued 623 migrants since Thursday morning in 15 rescues.”

Among those rescued were 146 unaccompanied minors, five accompanied minors, and two pregnant women, said the organisation, which is based in Marseille, on the French Mediterranean.

Some of those rescued were to be taken to Lampedusa and others to the port of Civitavecchia, northwest of Rome, the group added.

Most of those rescued were from Sudan, which has been caught up in a war between rival generals for the past four months. Others were from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin and Bangladesh.

The Ocean Viking crew were helped on board the vessel by teams from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said the earlier SOS Mediterranee statement.

The vessel was alerted Thursday by the Italian emergency services and given the coordinates of vessels in distress southwest of Lampedusa, the NGO said.

The central Mediterranean Sea is the most perilous maritime crossing in the world for the migrants.

At least 1,848 people have died so far this year attempting the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy and Malta, according to the United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration.

That is significantly higher than its figure for the whole of 2022, which was 1,417.

In June, one sinking alone in the western Mediterranean cost the lives of at least 82 people, one of the deadliest incidents involving migrants in the area.

In July, the Italian authorities detained the Ocean Viking for 10 days at Civitavecchia, after questioning the vessel’s safety standards before finally releasing it.

Source: AFP

The expiration of the deadline set by ECOWAS for Niger’s junta to return power to the country’s ousted president has clarified the intentions of the country’s new military leadership.

Instead of entering negotiations for a power transfer, the junta aren’t talking to anyone, they are just staying there and bracing for whatever’s going to happen.

France 24‘s Niger expert says ECOWAS are now playing a “dangerous game”. The organisation, which threatened military intervention if its terms were not met, has given no further details of how it plans respond to the expired deadline.

“It’s all about credibility,” he said. “The question is, what do you put on the table to force a junta to step down?”

Elsewhere, President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast recently met with his chief of staff. He was very clear with president Alassane that Ivorian soldiers will not be able intervene in NIGER

Source: France 24 and Cameroon Concord News

Sudanese authorities loyal to the regular army have declared UN envoy Volker Perthes “persona non grata”, accusing him of taking sides in nearly two months of devastating fighting with rival paramilitaries.

Fighting has raged in the north African country since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, turned on each other.

In a letter to the United Nations last month, Burhan accused the envoy of bias, not respecting “national sovereignty” and exacerbating fighting between the regular army and the RSF.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has repeatedly defended Perthes.

“The government of the Republic of Sudan has notified the secretary-general of the United Nations that it has declared Mr. Volker Perthes… persona non grata as of today,” the foreign ministry said in a statement late Thursday.

A Sudanese government official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the decision was taken “because he sided with certain political parties and stressed that the political process be restricted to certain parties and exclude others”.

“When the head of the sovereign council (Burhan) wrote to the UN secretary-general asking for him to be replaced, and he did not respond, the Sudanese government had no choice but to take this decision,” the official added.

The United Nations has yet to comment on the announcement. It noted in a tweet on Thursday that Perthes was in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for a series of talks.

Fresh fighting

Sudan has been embroiled in deadly conflict since April 15, with fighting spreading across the country from Khartoum to the western region of Darfur in defiance of a series of truces.

Witnesses reported hearing clashes on Friday near the Yarmouk weapons manufacturing and arms depot complex in Khartoum, from where plumes of smoke were seen rising for a second successive day.

Air strikes were also carried out in eastern parts of the capital and the sound of anti-aircraft guns was heard.

Since the fighting erupted, more than 1,800 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The UN says nearly two million people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Those unable to leave have been forced to camp out for weeks as supplies of food and other vital goods run low.

Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water, mains electricity is only available for a few hours a week and three-quarters of the hospitals in combat zones are not functioning.

The most recent truce was agreed to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into areas ravaged by the fighting, but like all those that preceded it, the accord was flouted by both sides.

The UN estimates around 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — are now in need of aid.

Blame trading

Perthes and the UN mission he heads have been targeted since late last year by military and Islamist-backed protests denouncing perceived foreign interference.

A former academic who has headed the Sudan mission since 2021, Perthes has staunchly defended the UN against accusations of inflaming the conflict, saying those responsible are “the two generals at war”.

In his letter to the UN chief, Burhan charged that Perthes had presented a misleading picture “of consensus” in his reports to the UN, and “without these signs of encouragement, the rebel leader Daglo would not have launched his military operations”.

It has never been possible to verify who fired the first shots of the war.

Daglo, an ambitious militia leader originally armed by Bashir to crush rebels in Darfur, was Burhan’s second-in-command before the two fell out, most recently over the RSF’s integration into the army.

Source:  AFP

More than a million people have been displaced by fighting in Sudan so far, including a quarter of a million refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson says.

The latest figure includes some 843,000 people displaced internally and around 250,000 people who have fled across Sudan’s borders, Matthew Saltmarsh told a Geneva briefing on Friday.

With hundreds of casualties and the streets of the capital Khartoum being turned into battle zones, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in weeks-long conflict.

Refugees have flocked to the neighboring countries of Sudan, including Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, all of which are experiencing severe humanitarian crises.

Since the start of the conflict, Egypt has received the largest amount of Sudanese refugees than any other country, around 110,000, according to Saltmarsh.

“Many of those who have approached us are in a distressed state having been exposed to violence or traumatic conditions in Sudan, and having suffered arduous journeys,” Saltmarsh said. The pace has increased in recent weeks, he added, with some 5,000 arriving each day in Egypt.

Thousands of people have been injured and hundreds of people have died as a result of the fighting in the northeast African country so far.

Source: Presstv

Three people died during clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the authorities said on Tuesday, amid flaring tensions triggered by a legal showdown.

Two young people were found dead overnight in the capital Dakar and southern city of Ziguinchor, where a policeman died on Monday after being accidentally crushed by an armoured anti-riot vehicle, the interior ministry said.

Crowds in Ziguinchor, where Sonko is mayor, on Monday hurled stones at police who responded with tear gas, according to an AFP correspondent there.

In Dakar, around 20 vehicles at a depot belonging to the national bus company were torched, and the local press said two stores belonging to the French supermarket chain Auchan, which has been frequently targeted in disturbances, were also attacked.

The violence erupted on the eve of a scheduled court appearance by Sonko, who is facing trial for the alleged rape of an employee at a beauty salon where he went for a massage.

Young demonstrators in Ziguinchor on Tuesday blocked off the streets leading to his home, some of them holding rocks or wielding steel bars, to prevent the authorities from taking him.

Sonko’s trial opened meanwhile in Dakar, more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the north, and was immediately adjourned until May 23 after he failed to show.

His accuser Adji Sarr, a woman in her twenties, and Sonko’s co-accused, Ndeye Khady Ndiaye, who owns the massage parlour where the alleged rape took place, were both present.

“I feel fine. I have confidence. We are going to win. It’s a pity that after waiting two years for a trial, he (Sonko) has fled,” Sarr said, speaking before proceedings opened.

Sonko, 48, who was also recently sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation and insults against the tourism minister, has denied the charge.

Sonko, president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came in third in the 2019 presidential elections.

He says the legal cases against him are a plot aimed at barring him from contesting the 2024 vote.

Senegal is traditionally a beacon of stability in troubled West Africa, but in recent years has been buffeted by turbulence that has at times turned deadly.

When Sonko was arrested in 2021, several days of protests left at least 12 people dead.

The interior ministry on Tuesday did not directly attribute the latest death of the two young people to the protests, but said it “strongly urges parents to prevent their children from taking part in violent demonstrations.”

These events are liable to “attacks, theft, looting and other acts of vandalism,” it said.

Source: AFP

The fighting in Sudan has caused more than 330,000 people to flee their homes within the country, with over 100,000 others escaping over the borders, the United Nations said Tuesday, as gunfire and explosions echoed across the capital despite another ceasefire deal.

The conflict risks morphing into a broader disaster as Sudan’s impoverished neighbours deal with a refugee crunch and fighting hampers aid deliveries in a nation where two-thirds of people already rely on some outside assistance.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo would provide support for dialogue in Sudan between the rival military factions, but was also “being careful about not interfering in their domestic matters”.

“The entire region could be affected,” he warned in an interview with a Japanese newspaper on Tuesday as an envoy from Sudan’s army chief, who leads one of the warring sides, met Egyptian officials in Cairo.

United Nations officials had said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths aimed to visit Sudan on Tuesday, but the timing was still to be confirmed.

Regional powers have been urging the two Sudanese warning generals, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, to end hostilities and begin negotiations.

The two factions on Tuesday agreed in principle to a seven-day ceasefire from Thursday, South Sudan announced as more air strikes and shooting in the Khartoum region disrupted the latest short-term truce.

A statement released by the foreign ministry of South Sudan, which has offered to mediate in the conflict, said its President Salva Kiir stressed the importance of a longer truce and of naming envoys to peace talks, to which both sides had agreed.

The credibility of the reported May 4-11 deal ceasefire deal between the two warring factions was unclear, given the rampant violations that undermined previous agreements running from 24 to 72 hours.

Risk of a regional crisis

The UN’s World Food Programme said on Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of the country after a pause earlier in the conflict, in which some WFP staff were killed.

“The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it’s going to be a regional crisis,” said Michael Dunford, the WFP’s East Africa director.

The commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who previously shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government show no sign of backing down, yet neither seem able to secure a quick victory. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Early on Tuesday, black smoke could be seen hanging over the capital Khartoum, which lies at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. Air strikes hit Bahri, on the east bank, while clashes flared in Omdurman to the west, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people have died in the fighting between Burhan and Hemedti, who have blamed each other for the ceasefire violations.

The army has used airpower against RSF units dug into residential areas of Khartoum, damaging swathes of the capital area and reigniting conflict in Sudan’s far west Darfur region.

Port Sudan, where thousands of people have fled Khartoum seeking evacuation abroad, is the main entry point for aid for many countries in the region, the WFP’s Dunford told Reuters.

“Unless we stop the fighting, unless we stop now, the impact on a humanitarian scale is going to be massive,” he said.

Kenya has offered the use of its airports and airstrips near the border with South Sudan as part of an international humanitarian effort, Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said.

Aid supplies

Aid supplies that have arrived in Port Sudan for other aid agencies were still awaiting safe passage to Khartoum, a road journey of about 800 km (500 miles), although Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had delivered some aid to Khartoum.

Some 330,000 Sudanese have also been displaced inside Sudan’s borders by the war, the UN migration agency said.

Thousands of Sudanese are trying to exit the country, many across the borders with Egypt, Chad and South Sudan. The U.N. warned on Monday that 800,000 people could eventually leave including refugees living in Sudan temporarily.

At the border with Egypt, where more than 40,000 people have crossed over the past two weeks, delays are causing refugees to wait for days before being let through after paying hundreds of dollars to make the journey north from Khartoum.

Foreign countries have carried out their own evacuation effort, with an airlift from outside the capital and long road convoys to Port Sudan where ships have ferried them abroad.

Most European countries have ended their evacuation efforts. Russia said on Tuesday it had pulled out 200 of its citizens.

The army and RSF had shared power since a 2021 coup but had fallen out over the timeline for a transition to civilian rule and moves to merge the RSF into the regular military.

The two had fought side by side to battle an uprising in Darfur from 2003 onwards in which more than 300,000 people died, raising accusations of genocide.

Source: Reuters