Africa

January 2, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Public Prosecutor office has arrested the former director of the forensic medicine authority, Hisham Zain-Alabidin, and the suspended director of the Omdurman morgue, Jamal Youssef, for the illegal burial of the victims of the attack on the pro-democracy sit-in on 3 June 2019.

On 11 November 2020, the public prosecutor found mass graves near the Al-Markhiyat Mountains northwest of Omdurman containing the remains of civilians who were killed during a bloody attack by security forces and militiamen outside the army headquarters.

Ten days later, the head of the prosecutor committee on enforced disappearances, al-Tayeb Ahmed Al-Abbas, decided to "exhume all mass graves and re-autopsy the bodies."

“The Committee arrested the director of the Omdurman morgue, Jamal Youssef, and the former director of the forensic medicine board, Hisham Zain-Alabidin,” judicial officials told the Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

The arrest of Youssef and Zain-Alabidin came against the background of "investigations related to the burial of bodies related to the attack on the sit-in in violation of the legal procedures."

Over 200 people were killed during the brutal on peaceful protesters however, the health authorities said that the number of the victims reached 85 peoples.

Recently, Youssef was suspended from office and investigated for issuing a medical report clearing Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a civilian who died in a detention facility on 20 December 2020.

Activists on social media circulated numerous violations committed by the suspended director of the Omdurman morgue, including the sale of unidentified bodies to be used in the training of students of medical colleges.

(ST)

A border dispute has led to armed clashes, deepening fears about insecurity in the region.

January 1, 2021 (GADAREF) - The number of Ethiopian refugees in eastern Sudan has increased to nearly 61,000 people as a result of the renewal of clashes in the northern region of Tigray.

The UNHCR and Sudan refugees body (COR) in their latest bulletin several days ago said they have registered over 54,411 Ethiopian refugees in Kassala's Hamdayet centre, Ludgi and Abderafi centres of Gedaref, and Wad Al-Mahi centre of the Blue Nile state.

However, more refugees have arrived in Sudan following recent clashes in the Tigray region.

"The military clashes between the federal army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front have resumed since Tuesday," Sudanese officials told the Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

The Sudanese military intelligence arrested 45 TPLF fighters in Hamdayet reception centre and they were transferred to the army's headquarters, the sources further said.

The sources which are not authorized to speak to the press said renewed military clashes led to the influx of refugees, as the number reached about 61,000. Also, thousands of refugees are expected to cross into Sudan in the coming days.

A refugee told Sudan Tribune that they had travelled on foot from their areas through the cities of Birkuta and Moya Khadra before to reach, the Hamdayet Center.

In a related development, Amhara and Tigray refugees in Um Rakoba camp clashed as some refugees urged from the absence of Sudanese police in the camp. While others said that the aid workers have to avoid placing refugees from the two ethnic groups in the same camp.

UNFPA Sudan estimates that amongst the refugees there are over 13,500 of which more than1200 are pregnant, with around 130 live births expected in the coming month.

(ST)

January 1, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Egypt slammed statements by an Ethiopian government official for stating that Cairo has been seeking to hamper the construction of a giant dam on the Blue Nile to distract its people from internal problems

Dina Mufti, the former Ethiopian Ambassador to Egypt and Foreign Ministry Spokesman recently said that the Egyptian government uses the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to divert the attention f its people from internal problems

On Wednesday 30 December, the Egyptian foreign ministry said that the Ethiopian chargé d'affaires had been summoned to explain Mufti's statements in which he touched on the Egyptian internal affairs.

Egypt "condemned these statements which are considered a blatant transgression," reads a statement released by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ahmed Hafez on Thursday.

Hafez stressed that such an offence against his country is a continuation of the Ethiopian government's approach aiming to use a hostile tone and fuelling emotions to cover its "multiple failures domestically and externally".

He went further to speak to the ongoing internal troubles in the Tigray and Benishangul regions as well as the "constant tensions and instability in the Oromia region". Also, he referred to the ongoing border tensions with Sudan.

On 31 December, the head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reacted to statements by the Spokesman of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry who said that Sudanese army had carried out inside Ethiopia.

The Sudanese armed forces "have not and will not cross international borders or attack neighbouring Ethiopia," said al-Burhan.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have to resume meetings on the GERD in the upcoming days in a long process that has been continuing for nine years.

(ST)

Elaine, Fik Fameica and Omah Lay are among the stars who have impressed BBC Africa's music experts.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed the Organization’s commitment to the people of Guinea-Bissau on Thursday, the final day of operations for the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the West African country (UNIOGBIS).

The United Nations Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission have reiterated their commitment to continue to support Sudan consolidate peace as the AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping mission in the country’s Darfur region ends its operations on Thursday. 

2020 was a year when the public fight against injustice was highlighted by sports stars across Africa and the world.

The Presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of the Action Chapel International (ACI) ministry, Nicholas Duncan-Williams who is popularly referred to as the 39;Papa 39; has admonished his congregants to be very wary about offending their fathers.

Chairman for Agyare Group of Companies Chairman Stephen Ofosu Agyare, has donated to the Royal Seed Home at Kwao Bondzi, Papase, in the Awutu Senya West District in the Central Region. The gesture forms part of the company 39;s annual visit to the orphanage home.

Some drinking bars in Akatsi South in the Volta region have registered lower patronage this Christmas season due to what others say 39;Covid 19 season. 39; Madam Elizabeth, owner of Aunty Lizzy 39;s drinking and chop bar at Akatsi in an interview with ModernGhana News indicated that the turnout during this Christmas season was not encouraging.

The Nkurakan Roman Catholic Primary School B in the Yilo District of the Eastern Region is in a deplorable state with portions of the roof ripped up. The deep cracks in the walls of the structure pose a great danger to the students.

The University Teachers Association of Ghana says it has dispatched a document to the Presidency after it collated concerns from its members on the Public University Bill (PUB). UTAG says the calls from its members for the withdrawal of the Bill are unanimous.

The joint United Nations-African Union mission in the Darfur region of Sudan (UNAMID) will officially end operations on Thursday, when the Government of Sudan will take over responsibility for the protection of civilians in the area.

We explain why a vaccine is needed, how we know if it's safe and when Africans will be able to get it.

The people of the restive region of Darfur in Sudan have seen the joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) as a "saviour" according to a writer for UN News who grew up in Darfur.

More than 10 million children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday, warning that without urgent action, the numbers could rise further. 

A group of independent UN human rights experts called on Ugandan authorities to end the arrest, detention and judicial harassment of political opponents, civil society leaders and human rights defenders.

The Nashulai conservancy, on the edge of the Maasai Mara, is reviving ancient practices to protect the ecosystem.

Progress made towards sustainable development by the Atlantic Ocean nation, Cape Verde, is under serious threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the country. In this blog, UN Resident Coordinator Ana Patricia Graça, explains how the UN is supporting the small island country to rebound from the impact of the virus.