Africa

The DJ who has built a thriving music and entertainment business in Durban, South Africa.

A selection of the best photos from across Africa this week.

Four international humanitarian organizations have temporarily suspended activities in northern Central African Republic (CAR) after dozens of attacks on aid workers in the region, the United Nations humanitarian office today said.

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Voicing concern over challenges to the implementation of last year&#39s political agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and deteriorating humanitarian and security situation, the United Nations Security Council has urged all stakeholders to redouble their efforts to resolve the problems faced by the country.

Somalia is suffering from the largest cholera outbreak in the past five years and the number of people killed is expected to double by the end of June, the United Nations health agency.

Stuart Baxter is named as South Africa coach for a second time as he replaces Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba, who was sacked last year.

South Africa’s Police Minister Fikile Mbalula tells Hardtalk that criticism of President Zuma is limited in the ANC.

Being a police officer in Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous beats in the world, and it is even harder for women.

Five years ago a midwife in Kenya delivered a child with male and female sexual organs. The father told her to kill it, but instead she hid it and raised it as her own.

The BBC's Umaru Fofana tells how diamond mining helped give him his start in life.

In our series of letters from African journalists, Mannir Dan Ali writes that President Muhamadu Buhari has been accused of being as secretive about his health as his US counterpart Donald Trump has been about his tax returns.

April 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese army has recently managed to catch over 200 illegal migrants trying to smuggle themselves into Libya, announced the Northern State on Sunday.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and its notorious militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are deployed along the north-western border with the troubled Libya. They are tasked with the border monitoring to prevent illegal migrants from sneaking to Libya, to capture terrorists who try to join the ranks of the Islamic State group there and above all to fight Darfur rebels who are allegedly present in Libya now.

However, the foreign ministry on Sunday said the government forces only secure 260 km of its 700 km border with Libya, pointing that there are still gaps that could be used by Sudanese rebels, human smugglers and illegal immigrants.

The Sudanese 75th Infantry Brigade in a joint operation with the Sudanese-Libyan Joint Forces, have managed to capture more than 200 infiltrators of different nationalities on the Sudanese-Libyan border on their way to Libya through the Western Sahara.

Libya which was a final destination for foreign workers is now a transit country for the migrants who seek to cross into Europe.

In a visit to the army headquarters in Dongola, the capital of Northern State, the Deputy State Governor Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Diab praised the vigilance of the Sudanese army and their leading role in protecting the border together with other security services.

"This operation confirms the vigilance and close commitment of the armed forces to their duties," said Diab in a speech to the joint force.

The Sudanese police transported the illegal migrants to the capital Khartoum where they have been handed over to their respective embassies.

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April 30, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - The African Union (AU) has called on the South Sudan warring parties to desist from escalating violence in the East African nation.

AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (AU Photo)

In a statement issued Sunday, the AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, expressed "deep" concerns over the increasing military clashes in South Sudan, especially in the restive Upper Nile region.

The official specifically urged the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition and other armed movements in South Sudan to immediately desist from fighting, which continues to negatively impact on the security, safety and life of civilians in the country.

"The renewed fighting in South Sudan is a clear indication that the warring parties continue to believe in a military solution, fully disregarding the plight of innocent civilians which they claim to represent and defend," said Mahamat.

"The immediate consequences of the military clashes on the civilian population are shattering and therefore it should be understood that those engaging in this callous behaviour should be held accountable," he added.

The AU Commission chief further called on the coalition government and other warring parties to immediately cease hostilities and uphold their responsibilities to protect civilians as provided for in the country's constitution and the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan

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April 30, 2017 (JUBA)- South Sudanese government on Sunday welcomed the arrival of the first batch of the regional protection force, saying it demonstrates the commitment of the government to ending the conflict in the country so that peace and stability returns.

Presidential Adviser on Security Affairs told Sudan Tribune that the arrival of the regional protection force demonstrates the commitment of the government to end the conflict and bring peace and stability to the country as soon as possible.

“Actually the delay was not on the side of the government of the Republic of South Sudan. It was on the side of the United Nations which did not complete discussions with the troops contributing countries and which did not provide clarification on the type of arms these troops would bring. Now all these have been cleared and as the government, we are happy to welcome them,” said Tut Kew Gatluak

The top presidential adviser said the government has always welcomed the presence of the foreign troops as it would help observing what takes place in the country, instead of having to rely on the emotions moving media and humanitarian organisation reports.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Saturday 29 April, announced the arrival of the first batch of the regional protection force in the country.

The statement said the first elements of the Regional Protection Force (RPF) have started to arrive in the country. But, It did not indicate how many troops arrived and when they came into the country.

“The RPF Headquarters has already been established in Juba under the leadership of Brigadier General Jean Mupenzi from Rwanda. In addition, an advance party of a Construction Engineering Company from Bangladesh arrived on 20 April bringing essential equipment to begin the preparation of accommodation and working areas for the RPF in Juba. Regional troops from Rwanda will follow in June and July;” the statement reads in part.

It further added that some other specialist capacities which are unavailable in the region will be provided by troop-contributing countries from the other UN Member States including Nepal and Pakistan.

The UNMISS said that the 4,000 peacekeepers of the RPF, commanded by Brigadier General Mupenzi, will be based in Juba to bolster the Mission's capacity to advance the safety and security of civilians.

The RPF will provide coordinated protection to key facilities in Juba. It will also provide protection to the main routes into and out of the city.

The deployment of the RPF, to be staged over coming months, will free existing 13,000-strong peacekeepers to extend their presence to conflict-affected areas beyond Juba.

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April 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Defence Minister Awad Ibn Ouf discussed on Sunday with his Qatari counterpart Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah ways to develop military cooperation between the two countries.

Qatar and Sudan signed a military cooperation agreement in November 2014.

The agreement deals with training, and exchange of military studies and experience in the logistics and industrial fields. It also mentions the exchange of military trainers and experts, besides enhancing military medical cooperation.

The official news agency SUNA said that Ibn Ouf and Al Attiyah discussed issued of common interest and means to developing and enhancing military cooperation between the two countries in the fields of training and exchange of experiences to serve the interests of the two brotherly countries and achieve security and stability.

No further details transpired from the meeting.

Ibn Ouf who arrived in Doha on Sunday morning met also with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Qatari TV said the meeting discussed the development of bilateral relations.

Since its participation in the Saudi-led military alliance against the Iran-backed militants in Yemen, Sudan has improved its relations with the Gulf countries, but Qatar remains the closest ally for the east African country.

On 8 January 2017, Ali Al Attiyah was in Khartoum for the inauguration of a military clothing factory, a joint venture between Sudanese and Qatari ministries of defence and Turkish businessmen.

The factory covers the needs of the Sudanese and Qatari armies.

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April 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Sudan is currently hosting about a quarter of the South Sudanese refugees in the region.

In its weekly humanitarian bulletin, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said UNHCR figures show that “over 10,000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Sudan during the first half of April, bringing the number of refugee arrivals from South Sudan to over 95,000 since the beginning of 2017”.

“This is a 32 percent increase since the end of 2016,” said OCHA.

According to OCHA “the number of South Sudanese refugees who have sought shelter and assistance in Sudan since December 2013 is almost 390,000 people”.

“The highest numbers of new arrivals in 2017 are reported in East Darfur and White Nile states - about 68 per cent. As of 15 April 2017, Sudan hosts about a quarter of the” said OCHA.

The UNHCR was initially expecting 60,000 South Sudanese refugees to arrive in Sudan in the whole of 2017, but that figure has already been exceeded in the first three months.

UNHCR anticipates a continuous influx of South Sudanese refugees throughout this year but is concerned about a drop in funding to meet their needs.

South Sudan has been engulfed by war since 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

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April 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations Special Representative and Head of the U.N. Support Mission in Libya, Martin Kobler, Sunday said Sudan and the UN have agreed on the need to establish a strong government that could maintain Libya's stability and territorial integrity.

In press statements after his meeting with Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour in Khartoum, Kobler underscored the need to implement the December 2015 Libyan Political Agreement, signed in Skhirat, Morocco, saying “it is the only path to preserve Libya's territorial integrity”.

They UN envoy pointed out that he relies on the mechanism of Libya's neighbouring countries to resolve the crisis, saying he wants it to use its own relations to play a constructive role in resolving the Libyan crisis.

Commenting on a UN report that accused Darfur rebel groups of involvement in Libya's civil war, Kobler said: “the international law is clear and these bodies [armed movements] shouldn't work outside its territory”.

For his part, Ghandour expressed Sudan's keenness to maintain Libya's territorial integrity, pointing that his country, African Union and the Arab League hold identical views regarding ways to achieve security and stability in Libya.

Sudan's top diplomat pointed that his country “doesn't want any Libyan party to arm or cooperate with the Darfur rebel movements”, saying some of these movements are now being hosted by some Libyan parties.

“We are keen to achieve unity, security and stability for the benefit of the Libyan people,” he said.

In May 2016, Sudan proposed the establishment of joint forces to monitor the border between Sudan and Libya to fight the Boko Haram group, which is accused of sending fighters to Libya and control the movements of Darfur rebels in the troubled country.

Despite the efforts of the international community, the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez Seraj failed to restore security in Libya. The country is controlled by multiple armed groups, some of which support the GNA government and some others oppose it.

Khartoum has said it is primarily concerned with restoring peace and stability in Libya as a neighbouring country.

Sudan says it supports the Government of National Accord and stresses the need for "the international community to support the legitimate Libyan government."

Libyan government complains of receiving illegal immigrants who come across the Sudanese border, while Khartoum grumbles about the activities of rebel movements in Darfur on the border with Libya.

In November 2013, Sudan and Libya had signed an agreement to deployed joint forces to secure the border, stop infiltration of illegal immigrants. But the lack of stability in the north African nation prevents its implementation.

The Libyan prime minister was expected to visit Khartoum last March but he cancelled his trip after due to internal troubles.

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April 30, 2017 (JUBA) - The military command of armed opposition faction loyal to the exiled former First Vice President Riek Machar has dismissed as “nonsense” voices calling for a declaration of unilateral ceasefire between the warring parties in South Sudan conflict.

Lt. General Wesley Welebe Samson, the SPLM/A-IO Deputy Chief of Staff for Training said in a statement released on Sunday that the basis of declaring ceasefire would be determined by the situation after the leader of the opposition is allowed to return to the headquarters.

“There will be no unilateral ceasefire from the side of the SPLM in Opposition if Dr Riek Machar, the leader of the largest armed movement in South Sudan is not relocated to his Pagak GHQs to convince his forces the logic behind the so-called ceasefire that President Salva Kiir always violates to the letter,” said Gen Samson

The armed opposition commander accused the global community of appeasing President Salva Kiir with the calls for a ceasefire, saying it would only allow him to reorganise his forces to launch more deadly attacks on civilians.

“Salva Kiir was not condemned when he indiscriminately committed atrocities on civilians in Parjok, Wau and Waat, and recently in Wau Shilluk and Kodok in Upper Nile. He should retreat from all these areas he occupied from 8 July 2016”, he added.

He called for an immediate deployment of a Regional Protection Force to the country so that civilians can move without fear in the government-held territories because they would be protected by the protection force.

Gen. Samson also accused Amadi State governor of allowing government forces to loot properties from civilians, citing the alleged recent looting of up to 50 goats, large crop storages, and livestock from villages in Mundri East County this month.

The rebel commander said the only way to restore peace is to renegotiate the peace agreement of August 2015 without the involvement of the East African block of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), claiming it has lost neutrality in the conflict.

He described the travel ban imposed by the region's governments on Machar as the gateway to a better and faithful of the negotiation of the peace process.

Also, he called for unfettered humanitarian access to civilians trapped in the rebel-controlled areas.

“Whenever a war breaks out, civilians run to the side of the SPLM-IO because they know we protect them, unlike the other side that kills based on ethnicity. We want the government of South Sudan to allow humanitarian services to reach the civilians without hindrance,” he pointed out.

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April 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations human rights office in Geneva has asked Sudanese government to clarify the alleged threats against a female journalist by hard-line Islamists who have accused her of “insulting Islam” in one of her columns.

Last February, a radical preacher Mohamed Ali al-Gazouli accused Shamael al-Nur, a journalist and columnist at the independent Al-Tayyar newspaper, of apostasy and called on worshipers to protect their religion.

Also, al-Tayeb Mustafa, the leader of the far-right Just Peace Forum (JPF), and uncle of President Omer al-Bashir called to prevent the journalist and "her likes of worms" from corrupting the virtues of the country.

Sudan's Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva Mustafa Osman Ismail received on 28 March a letter from the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression on the accusation of apostasy against the journalist.

"In this connection, we like to bring to the attention of your Excellency's Government information we received concerning threats against Ms Shamael al-Nur, a journalist by radical Islamists," says the letter.

The letter inquired whether judicial proceedings or actions have been carried out to limit the impact of fundamentalists and any other measures to take legal provisions on the criminalization of apostasy, consistent with international human rights law.

Moreover, the OHCHR urged the government to take all the needed measures to restrain and prevent the alleged violations and to conduct an immediate investigation into the threats faced by the journalist.

The letter, seen by Sudan Tribune pointed to al-Gazouli's hostile sermons against al-Nur and a case filed against her accusing of heresy and blasphemy. It further stressed that "law limiting the right of to freedom of expression must themselves be compatible with the (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) ICCPR".

"We stress that the protection of religion itself does not and therefore cannot be used to limit the right to freedom of expression," said the letter pointing that "Criminalization of blasphemy is incompatible with the ICCPR. Furthermore, it is incompatible with article 19 to prevent or punish commentary on religious doctrine or tenets of faith.".

Following, the hostile campaign last February, al-Nur filed two complaints against Mustafa accusing him of defamation and inciting religious extremist groups against her.

Reached by Sudan tribune, al-Nur said her complaint to the National Council for Press and Publications didn't take any decision on it but it examined a complaint from Mustafa against her newspaper and blamed it for the publication of the article.

Regarding her complaint to the police, she was recently being advised that the case had been referred to the court but she didn't receive any notification.

She further said that the uncle of President al-Bashir has lodged a complaint accusing her of defamation of religion offence.

On February 2017, al-Nur published an option article titled the "The Virtue Mania" where she said that the Islamic regimes are more preoccupied with virtue, female clothing, appearance and behaviour issues than health and education issues

She said that less than 3% of the national budget is allocated to health care and education adding "It is easy to drop spending on health in the state budget, but it remains very difficult to (grant) the Ministry of Health the right to distribute condoms," she wrote on, denouncing the "virtue's mania" of Islamic groups.

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