Africa

Amidst a “critical shortage” of resources, hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya will lack food unless new funds are swiftly received, the UN’s food relief agency warned on Thursday. 

South Africa's record-breaking skateboarder Jean-Marc Johannes on what putting his sport into the Olympics will mean for the continent.

Wadih Jalasi became known as "cage man" during the Arab Spring, after a photo of him went viral.

On the anniversary of the Arab Spring, the BBC looks at defining moments of the movement.

Ethiopian doctors tell the BBC about their efforts to treat wounded civilians during fighting last month.

Photographer Elena Heatherwick captures the stories behind them in villages in Rwanda and Madagascar.

How and and when are African countries likely to get access to Covid-19 vaccines?

New Desert Locust swarms are forming in the Horn of Africa, threatening agricultural livelihoods and the food security of millions of people, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. 

Concerns grow for people's safety in Sudan's war-torn Darfur as peacekeepers prepare to leave.

The head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has appealed for the international community to remain focused on the country as it continues to make gains on the political and peacebuilding fronts.   

Providing aid to millions of children uprooted by the ongoing crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia must be a priority, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. 

The United Nations voiced grave concern on Tuesday for the safety of thousands of refugees and internally displaced in the wake of a deadly attack on Toumour, a town in southeastern Niger’s Diffa region, near the border with Nigeria. 

Abdulhadi avoided the mass kidnapping in Nigeria's Katsina school but his twin brother Mustapha was lost in the chaos.

A student who escaped after gunmen raided an all-boys school in Nigeria speaks to the BBC.

The United Nations Secretary-General has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hundreds of boys, believed abducted by suspected bandits, after an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria. 

The catwalk in Dakar has been moved into a baobab forest due to Covid-19 restrictions.

December 11, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - A driver was killed and passengers travelling with him were looted in a new attack by the Popular Defence Forces in Al-Abbasiya area of South Kordofan State

The attack which occurred on Monday was reported by a local group Hudo Center in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday.

"On 7th December 2020, Mr Ali Mohamed Zaitouna, 63years, a driver of a mini truck was shot dead and the passengers on board were robbed and assaulted while they were travelling from Kosti to Al Abbasiya,".

The attack was carried out by four gunmen dressed in military uniform Popular Defence Force (PDF) and riding motorbikes, added the statement.

After killing the driver, they assaulted the passengers and took their money and smart-phones, before to flee.

The transitional government dissolved the PDF militia after the collapse of the former regime. However, the forces of this militia have been integrated into the army and operate under its command.

At the contrary of the Rapid Support Forces, they are formed from civilians who have other occupations and dedicated to fighting local rebel groups or the Ethiopian militiamen on the eastern Sudan border areas.

Hudo said that the Abbasiya police did not investigate the case filed against the unidentified attackers and expressed deep concern about the security situation in the area.

The group further called on the Sudanese authorities to hold the police accountable for negligence and to address the security situation in the state.

The government and the rebel SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu say committed to the unilateral cessation of hostilities but failed to hold peace talks to end the armed conflict in South Kordofan state.

(ST)

December 11, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan, urged the Security Council to lift the arms embargo imposed on the country over the conflict in Darfur, under the resolution 1591 (2005).

On Friday, the Council was briefed in a videoconference meeting by the Sudan sanctions committee on the situation in Darfur region during the period from 15 September to 10 December 2020.

The resolution 1591 (2005) imposes an arms embargo banning the supply of arms and related materiel to actors operating in Darfur. Also, it imposes travel ban and assets freeze on individuals designated by the Committee.

A year after the removal of the al-Bashir's regime, Sudanese transitional government keeps calling on the international community to end all the sanctions imposed during the former era.

"Lifting those sanctions was essential to ensuring lasting stability, as they no longer reflect the present circumstances in Darfur, compared to 2005 when the resolution was adopted," said Sudan's Ambassador to the United Nations Omer Siddig during the meeting.

Siddig added that the end of sanctions will allow his government to rebuild the capacity of the security forces and law enforcement agencies to preserve and enhance peace in Darfur and beyond.

On 2 November, Michael Pompeo the United States Secretary of State vowed to work with the Sudanese Government and international partners to identify circumstances that could lift the sanctions related to the Darfur conflict.

The two Governments have already begun consultations at the United Nations and Sudan is ready to engage with the United States and other Council members to swiftly end these sanctions.

For his part, the Chair of the Sanctions Committee Sven Jurgenson of Estonia told the meeting that "peace remains elusive as long as land use and ownership issues in Darfur remain unresolved and the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdel Wahid remains outside the peace process".

Jurgenson further warned that the return of the former rebel groups to the region to integrate the national army after the peace agreement may bring instability in Darfur due to the increasing tribal tensions.

The Security Council will receive the final report of the sanctions committee next February. Accordingly, it will decide to end its activities or to extend it for an additional year.

(ST)

December 11, 2020 (WASHINGTON) – The U.S. administration ramped up pressure on families and victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack and made an unusual offer in its race against time to get Congress to pass a bill this month that would restore sovereign immunity for Sudan.

US President Trump on the phone in the Oval Office

According to ABC News, the Trump administration made a last-minute offer to 9/11 group of claimants of $700 million that will be taken out of U.S. funds in return for them dropping their pursuit of claims against the East African nation.

But the victims made a counteroffer of $4 billion which was rejected by the administration and Senate Republicans.

Andrew Maloney, liaison counsel to a group of 9/11 families that sued Sudan and Saudi Arabia, told Voice of America (VOA)'s South Sudan in Focus program he welcomes any deal that provides compensation and justice for victims of terrorism, especially the attacks on the USS Cole and the embassy bombings.

“We wish and expect the 9/11 victims will be included some day but for now we don't want to stand in the way of compensation to the other bombing victims provided that the 9/11 victims' … lawsuit against Sudan for similar conduct is not in any way jeopardized,” Maloney told VOA.

He said his legal team also recognized that Sudan “really doesn't have much money,” and that the number of 9/11 victims is far larger than those from the USS Cole and the embassy bombings.

But Maloney argued that Congress should not grant Sudan any such immunity because it would deny his clients the right to pursue compensation for the 9/11 attacks.

The Sudanese government signed a bilateral claims agreement with the United States last month that stipulated removing Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism and passing the ‘legal peace' bill in return for paying $335 million to settle with the victims of terror attacks.

The deal covers the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack against the USS Cole off the port of Aden in 2000 as well as the 2008 killing of USAID employee in Khartoum.

But the agreement between Khartoum and Washington ran into opposition from a fraction of the 1998 embassy victims who later became naturalized US citizens and insisted on being treated like their peers who were US citizens at the time of the attack.

According to a previous report by ABC news this week, the Trump administration offered them an extra $150 million again from US funds which they appeared to accept for now pending further details.

But the Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee insist that the proposed bill extinguishes potential claims by 9/11 families and offered their own versions that allow them to go after Sudan in courts.

Sources say that the 9/11 families want to go after Sudan in courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) rather than the Justice Against Sponsors of Terror Act (JASTA) which the Trump administration advocates. The former appears to have more robust enforcement mechanisms to collect on court judgements.

Alternatively, they suggested amendments to JASTA which Khartoum rejected in a phone call between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chairman of Sudan Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Under the bilateral claims agreement, Khartoum has veto power over the proposed bills.

The US administration has also opposed Menendez and Schumer's proposal because it would strengthen 9/11 claims against Saudi Arabia, a key ally.

Furthermore, the New York Times reported last week that Burhan warned Pompeo that normalization with Israel agreed to by Sudan last October is in jeopardy unless the bill is passed.

The US-based Axios news site reported on Monday that Israel is lobbying senators and members of Congress to approve the bill at the request of Khartoum.

“Since Sudan decided to normalize relations with Israel, Israel obviously has an interest to help resolve Sudan's problems in Washington. This can encourage other countries to normalize relations with Israel too," a senior Israeli official told Axios.

Schumer and Menendez issued a joint statement on Thursday saying that their offices “drafted not one, but two legislative options for restoring Sudan's sovereign immunity, preserving and protecting the claims of 9/11 families, and resolving the embassy bombing and other international terrorism-related claims against Sudan”.

“We offered two versions in the spirit of cooperation and compromise, both of which overcome severe problems with the deal the State Department cut with Sudan that have tragically pitted different groups of victims of terrorism against one another” the statement reads.

The two senators said their proposed versions of the bill enjoy the support of key house and senate democrats and are prepared to pass either one before the end of the year.

“We strongly support a successful transition to democracy in Sudan; making this deal work for victims of terrorism should not be in conflict with that goal. As negotiations with the Trump administration continue, we call on Senate Republicans and the State Department to step up to the plate and work with us to make it a reality.”

All sides believe that unless a deal is reached before year-end it will likely not be taken up by the incoming Biden administration until well into 2021.

In a related issue, the 45-day window for the US Congress to review Trump October 26th decision to remove Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism has expired yesterday.

The State Department said that Sudan is set to formally get off the list after Pompeo signs a rescission notice.

“The President transmitted the certification and justification required for SST rescission to Congress on October 26. If Congress does not block the rescission after a congressional notification period of 45 days in accordance with the relevant statutes, the decision would go into effect upon the Secretary's signing of a notice to be published in the Federal Register,” a spokesperson told Sudan Tribune today.

(ST)

Amidst “disturbing reports” from Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan, the UN refugee agency called on Friday for “unfettered access to Tigray in order to reach people in need”.